Price of a friend
by Lilithakaducky
Summary: When Shun is kidnapped and in danger, how far would a friend, who already lost too many friends, go to help him? Hyoga-Shun friendship, no slash, Warning: Swearing and some violence. Prequel to 'Price of trust'
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer : I wont write them, you know them better than I. The Characters of Saint Seiya don't belong to me (I wish they did). I only borrow them for some fun and I swear to give them back relatively unharmed.

Obviously, English is not my maternal language. Yet I did my best and together with split-persona who did a wonderful job betaing the new, improved version, it shouldn't be that bad.

I hope you have some fun reading it.

PRICE OF A FRIEND

It had been three weeks since Shun had disappeared. Three long weeks of waiting for any eventual news as to his whereabouts. Three weeks, by the end of which the Saints of Athena were restless with worry and uncertainty.

Just as it was the case right then. Ikki was pacing Saori's Salon, where they had gathered to await news from Shiryu, who was investigating in Russia.

The phoenix Saint had just endured the most horrendously anxious three weeks in his life. He had been unable to cope, because it had been that day only moments before the attack that he had been out in the forest, talking carelessly to his brother.

He felt responsible somehow. He should have seen the assailants, or at least felt something, before the shooting noise and the stinging pain, when the bullet hit him in the back, but the attacker had possessed no Cosmo. Shun must gave been hit at exactly the same time as him, rendered just as helpless, as the tranquilizer entered his system.

Ikki had fought the drowsing effect of the substance, instantly realizing that the bullets were not meant to kill, and had managed to stay conscious long enough to hear the attackers approach. He hadn't seen anyone, since he had fallen forwards on his face, his body refusing to move even one muscle by then. But at least he had heard them exchanging words to one another. And even if he had not understood their words, he had been certain that he had heard them talking in Russian, which had given them at least a bit of a trace.

When he had regained consciousness again, Shun was gone. Ikki had been out only for a few minutes, his constitution as a Saint fighting the tranquilizer fast. But it had been enough time for his brother to be kidnapped.

The phoenix Saint had returned to Athena and she had instantly put everything in motion to find out what had happened to the youngest of her Saints.

Yet, despite all her money and connections around the whole world, Saori Kido had only recently discovered the probable origin of the attackers.

It seemed as if Shun had been followed for quite some time before the attack. Somebody had tried to get as much information as possible about the Saints, especially Shun, and Saori's Corporation. They had been careful not to leave any trace, but Saori had the money and the connections to get the needed information anyway, even if it took more time than she'd thought.

Those connections had gathered the information that all lines appeared to tie up in the north east of Russia, in a small shut-off kingdom and it's young queen.

The very moment Saori and the Saints had found out this bit of information, Ikki had wanted to charge there and get his brother out, obviously with the necessary force. But the indications were more than weak and Athena had forbidden him to go. Not that he would have normally listened to her, mind, but she convinced him that his brother might be killed if he acted too foolishly. They needed to check out the situation first, she had told them, before they could attempt any rescue. In the end, Ikki grudgingly accepted to wait, knowing that the Dragon Saint, Shiryu - even if he were just as upset about Shun's disappearance as they - was able to keep a cool head, which was needed for such a delicate mission.

Hyoga had volunteered to go too, since he had no problems with the language, but Athena had refused as well, when she saw the icy look in his eyes. He was as much involved as Ikki. Shun was Hyoga's best friend and she knew that he would not just stand by and watch another one of his friends suffer or die.

"The operation needs a cool head, " she had said, "in order to eliminate any risk for Shun's life."

That the only one of the Saints, being able to keep his temper under the given circumstances would be Shiryu, needn't to be said. They all knew it but neither Hyoga nor Ikki liked that very much. Nevertheless, Athena had sent the Dragon Saint to check out the situation on his own before they all went in.

He had departed that morning and they all waited for news, which should have been coming any time.

Ikki was obviously furious and trying hard to hold back his anxiety by pacing the room, a glowing fire in his eyes. He was barely able to control his anxiousness and rage, clenching and unclenching his hands as he crossed the room over and over again.

Hyoga was standing at the window, his gaze lost in the dark night. His eyes hard and ice-cold and his lips pulled into a small line. He didn't tolerate his friends being hurt, and took it very personally, since the culprit seemed to be Russian just as he himself was.

Seiya was sitting on the couch, head propped back and staring at a spot on the ceiling, his whole body tense with helpless anger.

"Miss Kido?" a deep, well-known voice interrupted their thoughts.

"Yes Tatsumi?" Saori answered.

"You have a call from Russia in your office."

Seiya jumped up at those words and Ikki stopped pacing. Hyoga looked at her too and left his place at the window coming to stand at Seiya's side.

Saori nodded and left the room in direction to her office, followed by her Saints.

They entered the big room and Saori went to the huge conference table with the full-sized monitor on one wall.

"Do we have audio only?" she asked Tatsumi with a stern voice.

"No Miss. The transmission is video as well."

Saori closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself and let the three Saints gather around her before she pressed the _ON_ button and the monitor came to life.

Ikki inhaled sharply as the Picture came into focus.

They saw a great, heavily decorated room, the kind that was often found within old castles. There were carpets and oil paintings on the wall opposite the Monitor. Heavy furniture of wood and satin adorned the part of the chamber they could see.

The monitor showed three people in the room. One of them was Shiryu, who had sad eyes with a sparkle of hate in them, which was absolutely untypical for him and scared the people present.

But it was the second person present, which took all their interest. Shun stood there, wearing traditional Russian clothing, head lowered and shoulders slump.

Beside him stood a petite brunette woman. Hyoga instantly recognized the traditional Russian style of the jewelry she wore. She held her head high and bore an arrogant look in her eyes.

As she spoke, it was with a heavy Russian accent.

"I am Natasha Karow, mistress of this place. Your Saint came here to defy me, Athena. I won't allow that happen."

"What have you done to my brother?" shouted Ikki.

"You have kidnapped one of my men," Saori answered in an angry voice. "You have defied us and you will give Shun back to us."

The woman laughed and looked at Saori on the other side of the monitor, as if she were no more than a nasty, bothersome bug.

"I don't think so, Athena. I know all about you and your Saints. I have studied everything there is to know about you and I have found the way to keep you under control. Shun will stay with me, for as long as he lives. I have granted him the honor to become my life-mate and serving my country by my side. You can be lucky that I will send you back your Dragon-Saint alive. But you will never come here again, or I will kill you. And don't think you can come here, without me noticing it. I have a woman with great mystical powers at my service, who put a magical barrier around my kingdom. I will feel every Cosmo penetrating my land."

"You think that is going to stop us?" Ikki spat furiously. "We don't care if you know about us, we'll fight any army you send us and we'll get Shun out. We Saints don't abandon one of our own."

"He's right," Seiya added. "Let him go now, and we might let you live."

"You have no chance to fight us and if you are as good informed as you claim, you should know this too," said Hyoga.

Her gaze went to the blond Saint and she addressed him a few words in Russian with a smirk.

Hyoga's stance didn't change, but he clenched his hands until the knuckles were white.

It was Shun who answered, his voice subdued and resigned.

"I'll stay here."

"WHAT? What the hell are you talking about Shun!" Ikki shouted.

Shiryu answered in a firm voice. "Natasha put bombs with nerve gas in different locations about Tokyo. She will make one of them go off, each time, we try to rescue Shun."

They all stared at her in horror.

"You bitch can't risk the life of thousands of innocent people!" Seiya burst out.

She just laughed. "Why not? It is your duty to protect mankind. It is the best way to keep you from coming here and doing stupid things. Oh, you can always search for the bombs. Unfortunately you don't know where, or even how many I hid. I will send you back the Dragon-Saint tomorrow morning. It will be the last time that any of you will penetrate my kingdom. If I feel any of your Cosmo energies here on my land again, innocent people will die. If you behave yourself, and forget about Shun they will never explode and I might even be willing to disarm them some time in the future.

"It is your choice."

With those words the screen turned black, as she ended the transmission.

They stayed speechless for a moment, staring with open mouths on the now black screen before Ikki exploded.

"Who does she think she is dealing with? We abandon none of our own. I'll go to her and kill her before she has any chance to detonate any bombe!"

Seiya nodded grimly. "You can count me in. I go with you."

Hyoga had his eyes closed, hands balled to fists and didn't say a word.

"Stop it right there!" Athena said in a firm voice. "I hate it as much as you do, but she is right, we can't risk innocent people's lives."

"You want us to just forget about my brother?" Ikki said defiantly.

Athena sighed, giving up some of her self-assured demeanor. "No, of course not, but we'll need a plan. All I ask of you, is to think before you act. Shun is in no immediate danger. We will get him, but we will do it right. We will not rush in provoking a war, in which innocents will die."

She looked at Ikki wit a stern expression on her face again. "I want you to promise me, that you will stay put until we have a plan. We will go on it carefully and slowly. Otherwise it will help nobody, least of all Shun. That counts for all of you, understood?"

Hyoga looked at her sadly, but nodded.

Seiya hesitated a moment, before he nodded as well.

Ikki just stared at her and for a moment he was debating defying her, but finally – hesitating - he nodded too.

"We will sleep and think everything over and tomorrow morning at nine, we'll meet here to discuss what we are going to do."

With those words Athena dismissed her Saints.

Once they had left the room, she sat down heavily on one of the chairs of the conference-table, buried her face in her hands and sighed out loud.

Nobody found any sleep that night.

They all lay awake in their beds thinking, searching for a solution and getting no answer.

All but Hyoga. He knew a way to at least get another opinion.

He had met her in a park one day, shortly after he had killed Isaac. He had been sitting on a bench, watching the swans on the little park-lake, thinking and being consumed by guilt, completely lost and despaired. He hadn't even realized that somebody had sat down beside him, before the woman had spoken.

"Your heart is bleeding, young one," she had said.

Hyoga had looked at her with a start, eyes wide. The woman was old, almost ancient, the lines of her face carving deep traces into her features. Some errand strands of silver gray hair were curling around her face while most of it was pulled into a bun at the nape of her neck.. She was petite and had a slight hunched over posture, as she sat at his side, seemingly ignoring him. She had just kept on watching the lake, but continued to speak, proving by her words that she was all but ignoring him.

"You are a warrior, a Saint. It is your destiny to fight. Even your friends."

"How do you know….?"

She had only smiled, gently looking up at him at last.

"I know a lot of things. Your soul is open to me, young warrior. And I know about Athena and her destiny on earth. You serve her. You fight with your brothers but what you ignore, you also teach them. They need you just like you need them. You five boys are a whole. Five aspects of a living, healthy concept.

"I also know that you have doubts, but you have to learn to accept your pain and your soul. You are what you are. And no matter what your teachers or your childhood-friend try to tell you, don't forget this part of your soul or it will die.

"You are a great, loyal warrior. You may be able to control your body and your emotions while fighting, but don't try to change your heart."

Hyoga had looked at her in astonishment. She had kept talking to him, as if she knew each of his thoughts. And she had known many things about Athena and her Saints. She had a very calming effect on him and he ended opening up to her, telling her about his feelings and pains. He had never done anything like this, especially toward a stranger, but she had kept him going that day, helping him deal with his loss.

The next day he had tried to find her to thank her. From people in the park he had learned that she was there often to speak to common people. She had the reputation for knowing a lot about others, even though most had never even met her before. And he had been told that she worked as a fortuneteller. From what he heard, she didn't speak openly about the knowledge she possessed to many people, since most treated her like an old crazy lady, nothing more. But Hyoga had known better. She had a gift to see things and he had the suspicion that she had the gift of an oracle.

By asking around, he had found out her address and sent her a single rose. He had not put a note on it, knowing perfectly well that she'd know whom it was from and why it was sent.

After a restless night he had taken the decision to go and see her. He got up and took a shower at five in the morning.

At six he stood in front of the mansion, waiting for the Taxi he had called.

At it's arrival he took the passenger seat and told the driver the address. The man looked at him, as if he had lost his mind. Hyoga could understand that, looking at which address he had ordered the Taxi to pick him up, the driver would be bound to ask himself, what a rich boy wanted in such a bad part of town. But Hyoga had other things in his mind and ignored the questioning looks of the man, who at last shrugged and put the vehicle into gear, driving out of the driveway.

Twenty minutes later, they arrived in front of an old, worn down house. Hyoga paid the driver and exited the car.

The Taxi sped off and he walked to the door of the old shop. On the window, big red letters, faded and barely readable due to the passage of time competed with the gray, dust-like grime, rendering the window nearly blind.

**_DO YOU KNOW YOUR DESTINY?_**

The words tried to draw the interest of any passing would-be customer.

Hyoga stepped up to the old glass door and pushed the handle. Finding it unlocked, he entered.

The single, half lit room was filled to the brim with candles, figurines and books. A dusty smell, mixed with the odour of different herbs gave the air a thick and suffocating tendency.

Hyoga crossed the store along the long counter and found a door at its end, which was open a fraction.

He opened it slowly and stepped in. The room was dark and windowless, only a couple of candles on the floor illuminated the place. The candles stood right in front of the old woman, who sat cross-legged on a mat on the floor, eyes closed and meditating.

"Come on in, young one," she said without opening her eyes

He carefully closed the door after himself and sat down in front of her, mirroring her pose.

"You know why I'm here?"

"Yes, young Warrior. You want to ask me if there is a way to rescue your friend without endangering innocent lives."

"Is there a way?"

She opened her eyes and looked at him. "I know that her threat is real. And I also know that no Saint can cross the border of her kingdom, without her knowing it."

"Can you tell us where the bombs are?" he asked hopefully.

"I can't interfere with history. It has to unfold itself. All I can do is give advice."

Hyoga sighed. "But can you at least tell me if it is possible to penetrate the circle without being noticed. Can't the Cosmo be camouflaged?"

"Not for a Saint or a Goddess. You can't cover a developed Cosmo completely, the only way to hide the Cosmo would be to destroy it and that would be irrevocable and therefore a betrayal towards Athena."

Hyoga's hope sank. "So there is no way to get him out without giving up being a Saint."

"No, there isn't. And no Saint has the right to fail his duty towards Athena for another Saint. You have to find another way to help your friend, without going there. But you must hurry, since he is in great danger from her. What I can assure you, is that she won't use her bombs without any provocation."

Hyoga nodded with a numb feeling and stood. "Thank you for your advice." With those words he left.

She smiled slightly after him. "Until later then, young one," she whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

When Hyoga returned to the mansion, the others were already gathered in the salon discussing wildly. Shiryu was present too, apparently back from Russia already. As Hyoga stepped into the room, Ikki threw him a scanting look.

"So you DID find the matter important enough to show up."

"Ikki, it's not helping to be hostile," Saori interfered.

Hyoga closed his eyes for a second but didn't react on the Phoenix Saint's outburst. Ikki was frightened for his brother and lashing out was the only way he had ever shown his emotions to the outside world. To be honest, Hyoga was feeling as furious about the situation as Ikki but he preferred to think about a solution, before he spoke.

"And now what? We can't leave Shun over there and just forget about him. We don't even know if she is bluffing. There may as well be no bombs around, for all we know," Seiya said.

"But if there are, the risk is too great. We can't just walk in there and take the chance on kill innocent people," Shiryu answered.

Hyoga's voice was calm and sad. "There are bombs, I'm sure of it, and she wasn't bluffing about the shield either. There is no chance that any of us can penetrate it, without being noticed."

Ikki was still furious and Hyoga was an easy target that he could let his fury out on. "Oh yes, I forgot. She is Russian, like you. Of course you can understand her _sick_ way of thinking. You probably even agree with her, right Hyoga?

Maybe you even helped her, or how else would she know how to surprise us? Perhaps it was just a convenient way for you to get another of your friends hurt or even killed, as you have the _tendency_ to do?"

Hyoga's eyes went wide, and his face lost all color, but he didn't say a word.

"Ikki. That's enough!" Saori said in a severe tone. "Hyoga is not responsible for Shun's kidnapping. You're being unfair."

"We have to infiltrate somebody into her kingdom, spy on her and find out how to disarm the bombs and find Shun," Shiryu suggested, trying to direct the discourse in a safer direction.

"And how do you plan on doing that? We can't go there ourselves and we would have to find somebody who was capable of fitting in, and if necessary could fight his way out of there again with Shun. I don't think Saori has any employee capable of doing that, apart from us," Hyoga answered. He had thought about this idea as well, but dismissed it already.

Saori nodded. "He is right, unfortunately. We don't have the manpower to do something like that, and there is no way to hide your Cosmo from her completely.

"The only other thing I can think of would be to search for the bombs here. We may have a chance to find them, with the help of our powers and the police. And we still have Saori's satellite. Maybe we can reprogram it, to find the bombs," Seiya said.

Shiryu nodded. "This may be the best way to proceed, until we have a better idea. Just leaving Shun there is out of the question. I suggest, that we let the computer find the most probable places to hide a nerve gas-bomb and get in contact with the police."

Ikki nodded grimly, eyes narrowed, hands in tight fists. Hyoga could see that he was not at all happy with this plan. He wanted his brother out. Now. And Ikki would have preferred to go to Russia and kick some ass to get his brother back as soon as possible. But even he could not ignore the danger for the people of Tokyo. Hyoga knew that his next words would not go over very well, but one of them needed to stay realistic, even though he liked it about as much as the others did.

"That is useless. We don't even know, how many bombs there are. Searching for them is a waste of time," he said in a low voice.

He had expected for Ikki to be angry about his comment, but he was completely surprised by the fist that hit him in his stomach and sent him to the floor.

He sat dazed on the ground, catching his breath and looking up at Ikki, who stood above him, a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"I've had _enough_ of you. You act as if you don't want Shun to be found. And he considered you a friend. With you as a '_friend_', one needs no enemies," he spat. "Get out of here. You are no help. We all know how bad the chances are but at least we do SOMETHING. You're a shame to any Saint, and unworthy to wear a cloth. Shun should have let you die in the House of Libra. He would have done the world a favor."

Hyoga looked at him in shock. He hadn't expected such hateful words. Of course he knew that Ikki didn't really mean them and was just crazy from worry. That he just needed somebody to take it out on, but still it hurt. More than he dared to admit.

Saori came forward and laid one hand on Ikki's arm to calm him down.

"Ikki. I said that's enough." She turned towards Hyoga. "I think it is better if you go until he has calmed down a little."

Hyoga nodded, pulled himself to his feet and left the room.

Hyoga stood in his room by the great window, looking outside, thinking.

Ikki's words had hurt him deeply, even though they were spoken in anger-surely not meant the way they sounded-but still. Ikki was right on one point. With him as friend, who needed enemies? All those close to him had suffered and died so far, except his four fellow bronze-Saints. Maybe it was his destiny, or a curse. He didn't know.

But he knew one thing. Shun was in danger. Natasha was a vicious woman. He had seen it in her the moment she had insulted him in Russian. Shun was all but safe with her and he had no means to defend himself. He would never do anything that could endanger innocent people.

Hyoga knew what he had to do. He had made his decision before he had even entered the house this morning, and Ikki's words had only made his choice clearer. He knew exactly what he was planning to do would mean. He would betray Athena and go against her orders and if he survived, he might as well be placed in the prison in Cape Sunion, to die for his betrayal. He had once given up his life to the Goddess. He had taken a holy oath to always serve her and mankind, no matter what consequences. And he would break that oath now. But he also owed Shun his life. Without him, he would have died in the House of Libra. Shun had risked his life then, and Hyoga would not allow another friend of his to die.

His gaze went to the nightstand, where his folded glasses lay. He had to take some precautions.

Sighing softly, he went to his nightstand and opened the drawer. He took out a small wooden box and opened it. After a short search he found a little piece of paper and stuffed it in his back pocket. After that he closed the small box and put it back into the drawer. He then stepped to his closet, took out a travel-bag and searched for the warmest clothes he could find.

He came out with almost nothing. He had never had any need for coats and the like. But he knew that he would need them now. He hesitated a minute, looking around his room. He was about to give up his life, as he had knew it, forever.

He sighed once more and finished packing before he left his room and the house, being careful so that no one would see him.

He walked out of the mansion's park and headed in the direction of the city.

First thing he did as he got there, was going to a bank and emptying his bank account of all the money he possessed. It was not a lot but it would suffice.

Hyoga then went in search for a cheap Motel and rented a room under a fake name. He needed to be alone to erase all his ties with the Saints and Saori.

And then he stood in the small room, where he would stay for the next few nights, until he could start his mission.

He sat on the edge of the small bed, and took the telephone into his lap. He fumbled in his back pocket and came out with the wrinkled piece of paper. On the slip of paper was a phone-number. It belonged to a rich Russian, whose life he had saved once from a polar bear. A few months before, said man had gone on an adventure-vacation and taken a great many risks, in which he had ignorantly gotten lost in the immense tundra of eastern Siberia. It had been his luck that Hyoga had been near that day and had seen him fleeing from the bear.

The man, Kavolsky, had insisted on giving him his personal cell-phone number, telling Hyoga, that if he should ever be in need for a favor, to call him. Hyoga had dismissed the idea as soon as he found out that the man he saved was a gangster mob-boss.

Hyoga hadn't thought that he would ever need that favor from a criminal, until now.

He dialed the number and waited until somebody picked up the line on the other end, responding in Russian. Hyoga discussed his problem and what he needed in his birth-language for over an hour, before all was settled and he hung up the phone.

His next step would be to do something about his appearance. Natasha knew about him and had seen him before. She would recognize him at first sight.

He stepped out of the hotel and searched for an optician. He didn't need to search for long until he found what he needed, entered the shop and made his orders.

Afterwards he went to a hairdresser. A young woman came up to him.

"Can I help you, sir?" she asked politely.

He nodded. "I want my hair cut and dyed."

She looked at him with wide eyes. "Sir, are you sure? You have such nice hair, it would be a shame…."

"I am sure. Just do it", he interrupted.

An hour later, Hyoga looked at the stranger in the mirror. His hair was now of a mild brown color, lighter than Seiya's, but definitely much darker than before, and it was much shorter now as well so that it reached barely down below his ears. The new hairdo looked and felt kind of weird and unusual to him, but still he was content with the result. Thank God he had a relatively darker tan thanks to his Japanese heritage, so the darker hair didn't look wrong. The only thing still giving him away now, were his eyes. They had always been piercing, their absolute clear color contrasting sharply with his dark eyelashes and his complexion. Now, with the darker hair, they were a certain give-away.

He would get rid of that problem tomorrow, as soon as he could pick up the colored lenses he had ordered.

He thanked the hairdresser, paid her and left the shop. He still had a lot of preparations to make before he could go see the old woman and end the existence of the Cygnus Saint.

Hyoga spent the rest of the day shopping for supplies and clothing he would need for the journey to come.

He made a detour to his motel to leave his stuff there, before he walked off to the part of town where the old Lady lived. It was quite a far walk, but he didn't mind. It left him time to think about Ikki's words.

It was an old truth that words out of anger were words spoken without camouflage. And even though he had been upset about Shun and not very rational, Ikki had talked out of his heart. Hyoga chuckled sadly. The proud Phoenix-Saint would never admit to even possess a heart. Yet, it was _he_ who could not stop worrying about Shun. Hyoga did not really think that Ikki went to Shun's rescue, every time he was in danger, just to save him from his adversaries. Because despite his gentle being, Shun was a very powerful Saint who could perfectly well defend himself. And Hyoga was certain that Ikki trusted his brother's ability to fight.

No, Ikki tried to save him, so that his little brother would not be forced to turn into a cold-hearted killing machine. Ikki preferred to spare his pacifist brother as many kills as possible. He was not protecting Shun's body, but his soul. For the same reason he had exchanged places with him to go to Death-Queen Island when they were kids.

Those last weeks, Ikki had displayed an almost manic worry for his brother. And today he had shown his opinion of the Cygnus Saint too. When Hyoga thought about it now, it all seemed pretty logical. All people who had ever meant something to him had eventually suffered and died. And the person closest to him now was his friend Shun. Ikki was afraid of him, Hyoga suddenly realized. He saw him on a subconscious basis as a threat to his brother, even if he did not rationally realize it.

And unfortunately, he was right about it too. Shun was in great danger and Hyoga would do whatever he could to ensure that destiny would not repeat itself. This time he would save his friend, or die doing so. He would even betray the essence of being a Saint itself.

He was still deep in thought when he arrived at the decayed old shop of the fortune-teller.

He entered the room again and found the old lady sitting in a wooden chair by the front window, her gaze lost somewhere beyond it.

"I was expecting you," she stated without looking at him.

Hyoga bowed his head slightly and smiled briefly. "You said that there was a way to destroy one's Cosmo? Do you know how?"

She turned her head at last and studied him for a long moment. "You will betray your Goddess and your duty."

"I serve Athena that is true, but I was raised as a Christian. So who _is_ my God? And about my duty to protect mankind and this planet? That includes my friend. How can I be ready to risk everything for strangers, if I'm not willing to do the same for my friends?"

A slight smile traced her wrinkled features at his words. "It can be done quite simply. I could help you out, but you have to be aware that no force on this world can reverse it, once it is done. You would still have the techniques of combat and you'd still be a good fighter, but you will not be able to burn your cosmo, to create ice or dive in arctic seas. You'll be as prone to frostbite and freezing as any human."

Hyoga just nodded. "I am aware of all that. Will you help me?"

"You want to do it now? I need some time for preparations."

Hyoga shook his head. "I can't do it before I'm ready to leave. The other Saints will feel my Cosmo vanish. I can't run the risk that they find out about my plans before I find Shun. It is my decision, mine alone."

He knew that Ikki would not hesitate to take the same decision if he were to come to know about the possibility, and he would not bring the other two in a position where they would have to choose between helping a traitor to Sainthood, or report him to Athena and maybe even fight a friend. He would do what had to be done and what his heart was telling him.

"I'll be coming to you tomorrow morning. Will that be enough time for the preparations?" he asked.

The old woman just nodded and looked back out of the window, without giving him and further notice.

Hyoga left the shop again.

* * *

T.B.C

Again a great big Thank you to splitpersona who is making time betaing this thing, besides all her other obligations like exams and stuff;-)

I know we're not supposed to answer review through here, but since we can only reply to the ones loggesd in and due to the fact that I was very exited to get any for this, I will do anyway and hope nobody will tell

Brynn Walley: Thank you for your nice words. They made me especially happy since this is one of my very first fanfics with still a lot of flaws. Especially the first chapter wasn't really to my liking. I hope you like the other chapters as well.

Seiiriuka: I hope to get a bit more done on 'Anibun' tonight. It's still one of my all time favorites.

Gemini Star01: Wow, you read this on Cygny's site then? I go under the Nickname Ducky there. Too bad that the old Sts community seemed to kind of fall apart:-( Great to finnally get into contact this way.

FF Fanatic: There will be, but only one. There will be lots of Shun later though. Yet no slash, just friendship. Shun is my favorite character after Hyoga, but since they are all so young and (in the manga) half brothers, I feel more comfortable writing Saint Seiya Fanfics without slash. (Doesn't mean I don't enjoy reading them, if the plot is good.) Thanks for the review.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Hyoga awoke the next day to the ringing of the phone on his bedside-table at six o'clock in the morning.

His body and mind still sleep-laden, he propped his upper body on his elbows, picked up the receiver and so he could hear the muffled voice on the other end

"Mr. Lee, it is the front desk. We're calling you, just as requested."

Hyoga needed a second before he remembered that he had checked in on the name of Marcus Lee the previous day.

"Yes, thank you," he answered, sitting up completely and rubbing his eyes with thump and forefinger, to chase away the last fragments of sleepiness. He had lain awake through most of the night, thinking, and only fell asleep at close to four in the morning.

"There is a package for you. It was delivered a few minutes ago by express delivery," the clerk added.

Hyoga nodded his head, even though he knew the other could not see it.

"Yes, thanks. I'll pick it up later." With those words he hung up.

He hadn't expected for the paperwork to be here so early in the morning. No matter in what business Kavolsky was involved in, they were fast, and without doubt thorough. He got out of bed and stepped into the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed as fast as possible. He had a lot of work ahead of him.

An hour later he sat on his bed, a paper-wrapped parcel in his lap. He opened the cords and took out a bunch of files and smaller envelopes. He checked the envelopes first. In one was a pile of Russian money, in the second a first-class flight ticket for Russia on the name of Mikhail Tovish. And in the third one, a matching Russian Passport. Even his Photo was on it, complete with his new hair, and eye color and glasses. Hyoga didn't even want to know, where Kavolsky had gotten that. And truthfully, he didn't care.

He looked through the bunch of files and saw blue prints of an old castle, pictures of Natasha and her major staff. He also saw a letter in Russian, which he started to read.

_**Dear Mr. Kido,**_

_**I'm happy that you have finally decided to make use of my offer to help you; I put in the packet all you need to penetrate the land without any risk of your true identity being discovered. **_

_**If you plan to penetrate the castle, you'll only succeed at being able to move with relative freedom as one of the servants. As I found out, they're searching for new personel and will receive eventual candidates just two days after your arrival there. I have created a false background for you. Study that file as exactly as possible. I got your picture out of the foundations Computer and changed it in the ways that you have told me that you would disguise your appearance. I also altered the data of their files, which could have betrayed you, should you have been caught, particularly things such as fingerprints and dental records.**_

_**Go apply for the kitchen help. I made sure to give you the background, so they will hire you.**_

_**You still have my Cell-phone number, if you have any more questions or should you need anything else.**_

_**I wish you good luck. You'll need it.**_

_**Sincerely Dimitri Kavolsky**_

Hyoga refolded the letter and started to study the files, trying to imprint as much as possible into his memory.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Where is Hyoga?" Ikki asked angry as he stepped into Saori's Salon, where everybody was already gathered and waiting for Saori, who was in a conference with the police chief.

Seiya shrugged his shoulders. "Haven't seen him since yesterday morning. Maybe you scared him off?"

"That's not funny Seiya. My brother is in danger," Ikki growled.

"You see me laughing?" Seiya answered defiantly.

"Don't you two start now, too," Shiryu interrupted in a serious tone. "We can't risk to fight against each other. Like Ikki said, Shun is in danger, but also the inhabitants of this city. And we have a duty towards them too. Even before Shun. And you both know it. Shun would never forgive himself if innocent people died over him.

"Seiya. Go get Hyoga. He wasn't here when Saori had told us to meet at eight."

Seiya swung his legs off the sofa, which he had been half-sitting, half-laying on, and strolled out the door without argument.

"Ikki," Shiryu said in a serious voice to the oldest of the Saints and waited until the Phoenix Saint looked at him. "Watch out what you say to Hyoga this time. You know that you have hurt him and it won't be doing Shun any favors if Hyoga acted foolishly out of false guilt."

Ikki looked at the Dragon-Saint furious at first, but then sighed loud. "You don't believe he took me serious? I know that he is more emotional than us, but he is smart enough to know that I didn't mean what I said. And he is not so emotional that he would do anything stupid. He knows perfectly well what's at stake."

"I still think you should apologize, Ikki."

Ikki pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed again. Shiryu saw the fatigue in his look. He was certain that the Phoenix-Saint hadn't slept at all last night, and barely at all the nights before.

"Okay. I'll apologize, once I have my brother back. I have no time to take care of Hyoga's sentimentality right now."

At this moment, Seiya stepped into the room with a bewildered look on his face.

They met his gaze and he just shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "Hyoga is not in his room."

"WHAT!" shouted Ikki. "Where the hell is he?"

"His bed isn't even touched. It almost looks as if he hasn't been here all night."

Saori and an older gentleman in a suit entered the room at that instant. She addressed her Saints.

"We have positioned the most probable locations of the bombs with our computers. The technicians are still working on a program for the computer on the satellite, but there is not much hope that it will be of any use.

"We going to split you up to go with the police at the different locations to look for the bombs."

Only now, did she seem to realize that one of her Saints was missing.

"Where is Hyoga?" she inquired.

"Not here, obviously," Ikki answered between clenched teeth.

"You want us to track him down by his Cosmo?" Shiryu asked.

"No," she answered. "He may be following his own sources of information. We have no time to search for him. He'll be back soon enough and I'm going to have a serious word with him, about leaving in a crisis situation without notifying me first."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hyoga had spent almost the whole day and most part of the night, reading the files and studying the layouts. He had only gone out late afternoon to retrieve the lenses he needed.

By the next morning he had all imprinted in his head and knew everything he needed to. At least he hoped he did.

He took the pile of files and put them into the trashcan, before he lighted a match and burned all of it, except the money, tickets and passport. He was acting near paranoid, he knew, but he just couldn't take any chances of his plan being discovered too soon. Too much was at stake. He could have destroyed the papers completely with the help of his Cosmo but he didn't want to risk the others detecting it if he flared it.

He absently looked at the flames as they consumed hungrily the sheets and destroyed all evidence of their existence. He could not dare to use his powers of a saint. Never again would he do it, he realized. He felt a stinging pain in his heart at this thought.

Soon he would go to the old woman and she would help him destroy his Cosmo forever. He had already left his cloth back at Saori's house. And now he would give up what he had lived for and what had been his life so far. He would lose all respect and dignity, and maybe even his life, but if Shun were to die he would loose his soul and heart, he was sure of that. He just couldn't take losing another dear friend

He was convinced of his decision, but that didn't mean that he wasn't afraid. How would it be like without his Cosmo? It had been a part of his life since early childhood. Even untrained, he had possessed it. All humans possessed it to a certain degree, some of then so little, that they never felt it in their whole life. But he knew it. And he felt it vibrate in him, like a source of energy, humming in his soul constantly.

The flames died, as there was no more paper left to nourish them and all that remained was a little heap of ashes at the bottom of the iron can.

He kept on looking at the smoking ashes for another minute, before he turned and walked out of the door.

This time he took a taxi to the shop. He didn't want to put it off any longer.

He entered the store for the third time in as many days. The old lady was nowhere to be seen. He suddenly realized that he didn't even know her name. He thought about asking her later, when he heard a voice coming from the adjoining room.

"Come on in my boy."

He entered the room and found a scene similar to the first time. He closed the door behind him slowly and took a step closer to the old woman, who sat cross-legged with closed eyes on the mat. Two thick candles flickered in front of her, as well as dozens more on a shelf behind her, giving her form an almost unnatural glow. The room was filled with a strong herbal scent, which made Hyoga's stomach cramp, but he suppressed the nauseating feeling.

"Come," she said, without opening her eyes, nodding towards the place in front of her. He came closer and sat down facing her, mimicking her pose once again.

Only then, she opened her eyes and looked at him intently, as if to gauge his determination to go through with his wish.

After a while she just nodded.

"What will I have to do now?" Hyoga asked in a low voice.

She just gave him a short smile and got on her feet. Hyoga wanted to get up too and help her, but she dismissed him with a wave of her hand.

"I've gotten off the floor alone for many years. I don't plan to change my habits now, young warrior."

Hyoga lowered his head slightly, feeling more and more insecure and lost right now. All his instincts of self-preservation screamed a warning at him, at this unfamiliar scene with the unfamiliar scents. And he felt strangely insecure about how to react to anything. The old lady seemed to feel his uneasiness. She chuckled slightly and patted him good-naturedly on one shoulder, while she passed him.

"Just stay seated and relax. I will do the rest."

Hyoga nodded. He was very uncomfortable and felt a knot starting to build in his throat, when he heard shuffling and clattering noises behind him, as she searched for something, murmuring a litany of words. He fought the urge to follow her with his eyes. He was nervous, having no idea what would happen now, knowing only the consequences of it.

She came back and sank on her knees besides him with a grace that belied her age and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Relax," she said soothingly. "Close your eyes and take a deep breath.

Are you absolutely sure to go through with it?"

Hyoga closed his eyes for a moment, seeing Shuns smiling face in front of his mental eye. He reopened his eyes, a determined sparkle in them.

"Yes."

She nodded and handed him a bowl with a moldy liquid, which smelled absolutely awful. Hyoga could not stifle completely the disgusted wrinkle of his nose. The old woman chuckled again.

"I know it smells bad. But it does taste better, I assure you. "

She moved until she knelt directly behind him and reached around his body, holding the bowl again, her hands covering his.

He stiffened at the unexpected closeness of her body directly behind his.

"Shhh, relax, she crooned into his ear. I need to have close contact, else it won't work."

With her body propped up on her knees, her head was at the same height as Hyoga's, who sat still cross-legged on the mat.

"I can sense the tension in your body and soul. This won't do at all," she gently said.

Hyoga forced to keep his eyes straight ahead. "I want this to happen. I'm not afraid!" he stressed defensively, his nervousness rending a sharp tone into his voice.

"I know," she said in the same gentle voice and Hyoga meant to practically feel the smile on her lips. "You don't have doubts about me taking your Cosmo. If you did, I would not be able to do what you desire. But you are nervous about the unknown consequences that could happen. I need you to get rid of the tension first."

She lowered her hands, and with them Hyoga's, who still held the bowl, until they rested in his lap. Then she let go and started to gently massage his temple, talking softly to him.

"Close your eyes now and take a deep breath. "

He complied.

"Good, Now I want you to breathe slowly, in and out.

And in and out."

Hyoga felt his body relax under her soothing tone, the smell in the room staring to make him feel dizzy in a relaxing way. He felt his thoughts starting to drift as his mind was slowly letting go of all worries.

Her massaging fingers left his temples and went back to his hands, holding the bowl, moving them upward to his mouth, and making him drink slowly, while she kept on her litany of words but now in a language he did not understand and which sounded ancient to him.

The liquid was warm and sweet and she made him drink the whole content of the bowl, very slowly. Hyoga felt his body drift and he started to lose all feeling. His mind seemed to spiral down into his soul and he felt strangely detached.

Like in a dream he sensed his body relax against hers and his hands loosen the grip on the bowl. The old lady took the bowl away from him and let his hands fall uselessly at his sides. He heard the clatter of the bowl as she put on the floor beside them, without stopping to mumble her magic.

He relaxed even further and slumped against her with his whole weight. She shifted her body, supporting his shoulders before she helped his prone form rest on the mat, straightening his legs, so he lay flat on his back. His eyes were open, but he couldn't focus on anything at all. He more felt than saw her kneel at his side.

She laid a cool hand onto his forehead and the other on his chest and closed her eyes, as she continued her spell.

After a few minutes, his body started to spasm as an invisible force seemed to rip him apart from the inside out. He screamed out in pain and she strengthened her grip on him as she held him down with forceful strength she should not have been able to possess.

After a while, the spasms stopped and his eyes started to focus. He breathed heavily and his gaze found hers, before his eyes slid closed as he passed out.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

She looked at him, keeping her hand on his brow, stroking it in a calming affectionate manner. She knew that waking up would not be pleasant for him, and that he would hurt. Physically and mentally, but she admired him. Such devoted a friend, who would give up everything for another, was rare.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

The Saints and Athena had gathered in front of the mansion, to continue their fruitless search for the bombs from the day before, when they felt the internal explosion.

Ikki's head came up with a start, as did the others'. Seiya gasped loudly.

"Did you feel that?"

"Hyoga!" Shiryu stated.

"His Cosmo exploded and now it's gone," whispered Ikki.

"What happened to him," Saori breathed.

Shiryu had his fist clenched as only sign of his emotions. "His Cosmo is gone, that can only mean one thing…"

"No!" Seiya shouted, before the dragon Saint could finish his sentence. "He is not dead. There must be another explanation. I refuse to believe he died."

A terrible thought started to form itself in Shiryu's head.

"What if he tried to free Shun, and got caught?"

This made everybody look at him in shock.

"No, that fool can't be so stupid. That would mean that she will release the gas," Ikki growled.

"The explosion wasn't in Russia. It was closer by," Saori replied.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The first sensation he felt was pain. Pain in his whole body and a sense of emptiness he could not explain. He felt cold and shivered. From somewhere he heard a low moan, before he realized, that sound had come from his own mouth.

Hyoga forced his eyes open, but they seemed too heavy and it took an enormous effort to get them open. He blinked a few times, trying to find out where he was.

He looked straight into the face of an old lady, who was looking at him seriously, and all memory came back. He tried to sit up, and even succeeded with the help of the elderly woman.

He first looked at her, and then down his own body. Something was wrong. He felt empty. As if part of himself was missing. He narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt so cold and alone, and a great sense of loss and despair gripped his soul. He was not whole anymore. Part of his soul had simply disappeared. He felt a sense of panic take a strong hold of him and closed his eyes tightly, hugging himself for warmth -- which wouldn't come though, since the cold was in his soul.

"What is wrong?" he whispered.

"You have lost your Cosmo."

"But I feel so…. As if part of my soul and all warmth had disappeared."

She sadly looked at him. "Your Cosmo _is_ part of your soul, my boy."

He lowered his head. "Will I always feel as lost and cold as I do now?"

She gave him a supporting smile. "No, The memory will fade with the weeks and years. The separation is just new. You feel much like a singer, who has just lost his hearing and voice, or like a bird that can't fly anymore, right now, but you will learn to adapt, eventually."

"A bird that can't fly? That is more true than you think," he whispered in a subdued voice.

"You regret your decision now?" she asked.

He looked at her sincerely.

"No. Never. Friendship and love is worth every sacrifice. "

He tried to get on his feet, but only succeeded with her help. He wavered a bit and moaned lightly from the pain in his body. Only after another minute he had collected himself enough to walk with wavering steps towards the entrance. He turned again and looked once more at the woman.

"Thank you. I don't know, how I can pay you back for your help."

She just smiled. "Go. Save your friend. He must be an exceptional boy, that you're risking so much for him."

Hyoga managed a little smile as well. "Yes, he is worth everything."

She warmly smiled at him. "I called for a Taxi, while you were unconscious. It should be here in a few minutes. You are in no shape to walk back to your motel in the state you're in."

He frowned. "My plane leaves tomorrow afternoon. Will I be feeling better then?" he asked worriedly.

"You will feel stronger by then. At least physically, don't worry. The potion I gave you is mostly responsible for your present weakness. Try to get as much rest as possible until tomorrow. But your mind will have a more difficult task to deal with it. Be aware of that."

Hyoga nodded and walked with careful steps towards the exit and the Taxi, which stopped at that moment in front of the glass door.


	4. Chapter 4

_This is Kathrine, Ducky's beta. Yeah, sorry for the long wait in the updating. Lots of miscommunication and screwed up emailing going on here. For some reason I wasn't able to send the attachments back to her every time I tried. So it's not really her fault for now having the next chapter out to you. But I have a new computer and it seems that everything has been fixed, so expect things to come along a little (or a lot) quicker that it has in the past. Thank you for your patience._

**_Chapter 4_**

Hyoga entered his room and sat heavily on his bed. His body was weary and his soul felt cold. A shiver ran up his arms and he rubbed at them absently to chase the chilled feeling - in vain. He took off his shoes and pants and laid down on the bed, pulling the sheets over him.

He stared at the ceiling, letting his thoughts drift. He had really done it. He had broken his oath towards Athena. He was a Saint no more.

Athena would be forced to follow her own rules and punish him for what he had done. His friends would probably despise him for it. Especially Seiya. His sense of duty being as strong as it was.

All he could hope for now was that Ikki would understand at least, and forgive him. He would definitely be glad that he was gone, given the danger Hyoga had always been to his brother.

He felt tears sting his eyes, but they stayed unshed. He had given up everything for his friends. For his friendship to them was all that really mattered to him. They were like pieces of his soul and his only reason for living in the first place.

He felt a dark heaviness invade his body and thoughts, slowly creeping up on him. His eyes were hard to keep open and he closed them as his physical and mental exhaustion caught up with him, pushing him into sleep.

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He didn't awaken for a long time and slept through the next morning. Even after he did awake, he had a hard time getting out of bed. He had never been a heavy sleeper before. All Saints, or trainees, were used to getting up at an early hour to train. But his whole body was still aching.

He finally managed to sit up, knees pulled up, elbows leaned on them and his face buried in his hands.

He did indeed feel stronger than the day before, just like the old woman had said, but the wide chasm in his soul was still as cold and deep as it had been at first.

"Like a bird that can't fly anymore?" he remembered her words. And that was exactly how he felt. As if some part of himself was simply…missing.

Hyoga sighed and got up. Stepping in the bathroom, he took a shower and absently dressed into new clothes. He then opened the small box on the sink, took out one of the lenses, applied some liquid on it, put it on his eye and then repeated the same with the second lens for the other eye.

He blinked a few times and then looked at the mirror, glancing at a young man he didn't recognize. He still had the same features, but the darker hair and the dark-brown eyes looked alien to him. But something else was wrong in the mirror image. Something he couldn't pinpoint exactly. As if something important, something defining him as _**Hyoga**_, had disappeared.

He closed his eyes for a second and left the bathroom to start packing.

His plane was leaving in four hours.

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The check-in went smoothly and nobody seemed to question the veracity of his identity. He was really thankful that Dimitri Kavolsky had booked him a first-class ticket, since he was still aching and exhausted. So he spent the whole flight relatively comfortable, sleeping.

Once the plane arrived in Moscow, he had to take a shorter flight to the remote part of the land, where Natasha Karow held the people under her command with power, money, and authority.

Of course, she was not a real queen or even royal, but she had the money to keep control over all people on the land she owned, which was a small country in itself. From what Hyoga had gathered from the files, she had built herself a palace and was in one way or another responsible for the people's income and survival. All of the people were her employees in one way or another, since she held all of the power in her hands. Life in Russia had never been easy, not in the times of the Czars, nor after their fall.

Natasha was smart enough to make sure her people had a relatively good life, which ensured her their loyalty. Also, they would willingly overlook that she was a little eccentric. And none of them cared for outsiders, especially a young Japanese boy she held against his will.

They probably couldn't care less about the people in Tokyo she threatened either. If they even knew about it in the first place, which Hyoga doubted seriously.

Hyoga retrieved his luggage and stepped out of the small Airport-terminal into the freezing wind of Russia. He stopped and felt the biting cold creep up his body, despite the warm, thick coat he had put on. He suppressed a shiver, and looked at his breath, which turned into white mist, each time he exhaled. He had just left the airport in Moscow and only now did he truly feel the cold. It was a sensation he wasn't used to anymore.

The few times he remembered that he had felt _cold_, had been during his fights with the other ice-Saints and with Hagen. But it had been different. It had been an attack. Violence and aggression, combined with pain. This was a passive cold; something he had last felt as a child, in the earliest days of his training. It was not painful, like in the fights, but unpleasant enough, and unusual.

He ignored it and moved on his way to the only hotel in the town.

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Hyoga spent the next two days strolling through the streets of the town and the forests around the castle, which lay a few kilometers outside of town.

It was an old-looking building in a classic European style with thick, protective walls and a couple of high towers. It was bordered on one side by a forest and a wide field on the other side. Only one single road led towards it, and Hyoga realized that there were very few cars, mostly dogsleds or snowmobiles. It was early harvest, and the snow which covered the ground was thin, but hard for cutting and sharp as glass, because of the chilling nights.

He could use this to his advantage.

He knew that he would have to flee with Shun, once he had found him and disarmed the bombs. They would have to flee through the woods, trying to reach the border of Natasha's sphere of influence. The snowmobiles could not go there, because of the difficult ground, and the dogs would only cut their paws in the hard snow.

Hyoga sneaked from the forest towards the castle and stopped about one hundred meters from the steep wall, hiding behind some trees. The former Saint didn't want to be spotted yet, or his rescue mission would end before it had even started.

He searched for a good hiding place and found a hollow trunk of a dead tree. Contently he swung his well-filled travel bag from his shoulder, stuffing it into the hole. Then he covered the opening with a couple of loose branches to hide it from the eventual passersby.

After having taken care of everything, he threw one last look back at the castle. "Soon, my brother. I will get you out of there," he silently wowed. Then he retreated as carefully as he had come.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Igor was annoyed. He was Miss Karow's right hand and disliked the days of new employment. He considered himself above this task, but his mistress demanded that he would check out the new employees carefully. She was a cautious woman, almost paranoiac, and trusted only a very few number of people. He was one of them. And she was on her guard especially now. Miss Karow was not stupid and knew that Athena's Saints would not just give up their companion so easily. She supposed that they would try everything they could to get him back, without endangering Tokyo's inhabitants. He was convinced of that too, but he didn't think any offensive action on their part would occur in the immediate future. They would first try to search for the bombs, and then talk to her again about a diplomatic solution. Maybe try to get Russia's government to help them, which of course would prove to be fruitless. They had better things to do, and Athena and her Saints had no proof of their claims.

Athena was a Goddess and her Saints were the best, almost inhumanely strong warriors. But they were also very predictable.

He opened the heavy wooden door, which led to the large courtyard in the center of the huge fortress, in between the main house, stables and rooms for the employees.

About twenty young men and women stood in the cold wind, waiting for him. By the wall, a few meters off, stood three men and one older woman, who would instruct the new ones in their duties.

He had read all their files and applications and all he needed to do now, was to take a look at them to determine, if he would stick with his first choice, or if any of them could be a danger to his mistress.

They were searching for two maids, one stable boy, one for kitchen-help, and two new servants for the mistress' new boy-toy. He smiled at this. The young warrior had the face of an angel, and was very beautiful. That was the reason why she had chosen him, but her interest would falter sooner or later. It had happened before. She would make his life a misery and in the end kill him, like all her previous boy-toys. He would have servants, and could go almost anywhere he wanted in the castle, but he was still a prisoner. And the chains holding him were his honor and duty as a Saint. Before, she had always needed to guard her chosen ones. Not this time. He wouldn't dare to oppose her, as long as she still had the bombs.

Igor directed his attention back to the aspirants gathered. He called first for the stable boy, and three young men approached. He remembered their files. Especially the one being his favorite choice. He exchanged a few words with them, and nodded then. His first impression of the files confirmed itself and he dismissed two of the boys, who walked away with disappointed faces. One of the men by the wall, a short, thin man came closer and led the remaining boy towards the stables.

He then called for the aspirants for servants for the young Japanese boy.

Eight men of all ages stepped in front of him. He smiled. He had been especially careful in selecting them. He had taken his decision and after a short inspection and a few exchanged words, he dismissed all, but two, who got led away by an elder man.

He called for the kitchen-help and the last male of the group stepped forward.

He scrutinized the young man, who was quite young – barely an adult – for a moment. He had first wondered at the fact that he had received only one acceptable application in the first place, but all the others he had received, had been so unfitting that he hadn't even ordered them here today.

The boy with brown hair had his head lowered in an almost timid way, as he stepped before him.

"Look at me, boy," he ordered.

The boy lifted his head and looked at him with expressionless dark brown eyes, hidden behind some wire-framed glasses.

Igor frowned. Those eyes were so devoid of all emotion, it was unsettling. They were strange…empty, and somehow fascinating.

He finally nodded and a large man came closer and led the boy away. Only then, did Igor realize that he had forgotten to ask any questions. But since this was the only aspirant for the Job, it was not really important anyway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hyoga was led into the castle by the man who had introduced himself as Ivan, chef of the kitchen, and led down some stony stairs.

"What is your name, boy?" He asked in a deep voice.

"Mikhail Tovish", he answered.

"Well, Mikhail Tovish. I can tell you right now that you're in for hard work. But if you are doing your job well, we will get along just fine."

Ivan led him into a large, old-fashioned kitchen, where several people were gathered together, working. As they entered, the others stopped their work and looked at him curiously.

"This is Mikhail." Ivan roared in his deep voice. "He will work here from now on. Alexei, come here and show him his work."

A young man in his late teens, early twenties hurried over to them. He had semi long dark hair, almost black with a reddish tone, and deep blue eyes. He grinned at Hyoga, before he took his arm by the elbow and gave him a short tug, to lead him wordlessly away from the large man.

"Hello Mikhail. I'm Alexei. Nice to meet you. So now I'm finally not the youngest anymore, it seems," he said with a wide smile and a sparkle in his eyes.

Hyoga didn't answer, but gave him a short smile.

Alexei showed him around and explained the work, what was expected from him.

"At first you will be expected to do all the dirty work around here, as long until the next young fool, stupid enough to apply for a job here will come and take that from you," he said with a wink of his eye in Hyoga's direction. Hyoga could not keep from chuckling. He liked Alexei from the first moment. The encounter with the older boy reminded him strangely of his first encounter with Isaac.

Alexei led him to the back area of the kitchen, where there were some big vats with a wooden plate on top as a cover.

"I'll show you where to bring the waste. There is a pig-farmer from outside town, who picks them up once a day. We have to carry it outside, though."

He stepped to one side and took hold of one of the two big handles, which were nailed on either side of it. Hyoga took the other handle, and together they lifted the heavy vat from the floor. Hyoga had to strain to lift it. With his Cosmo, he would have carried the whole thing without effort, and the fact that he needed so much strength for this simple task brought on a small flicker of regret, but that vanished as soon as he thought of his reasons for being here. It had taken a great amount of will power to stay indifferent as two of the aspirants had been selected to become Shun's personal servants. It would have been a much easier way to approach him, but more difficult as well. The background-check for those men was certainly more thorough and he had seen nobody around his age among the applicants. Maybe by purpose, maybe by coincidence but he would have attracted more attention for sure. He needed to be patient. His time would come. He needed to stay calm the first days. He was sure; he would be supervised closely for the time being, like all new ones.

He had risked and given up too much to spoil it all with foolish actions. Even so, he wished to see his friend as soon as possible, and knowing that he was so close, yet still unable to see if Shun was all right, was tearing at him.

"Damn, you're stronger than you look!" Alexei's voice ripped him from his thoughts as they moved their heavy load along. "I thought you wouldn't be able to lift this, even with my help. Most new ones have trouble with this until they build enough muscle for the hard work. Barely anybody who applies for this job thinks that force is needed in a kitchen."

"I grew up on a big Farm," Hyoga answered, remembering his fake background. "I had to help my father a lot with all the work."

"And what are you doing here then? If people as young as you come here for a job, they are mostly orphans who want to make something out of their lives. All others don't come here before they are at least two years older than you are."

"My parents wanted me to see a little more of the world, than just our farm", Hyoga responded carefully, knowing that people here had the tendency to consider Russia as the whole world deserving to be known.

Alexei sighed. "You're lucky, you know. I never met my parents, they ran away together when I was still a baby. I grew up with my grandmother, but she died early on when I was only a kid."

Alexei's look had a taken a deep shimmer of affection and profound sadness. He must have loved his grandmother very much, Hyoga thought. He could perfectly sympathize with the older boy, and a flicker of memory of his own mother came to the surface of his mind.

He studied Alexei a little closer. There was something else in his look, something hidden, almost longing. Hyoga dismissed it. He was here for a purpose, and this boy was not important.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Alexei spent the rest of the day, showing Mikhail his work, telling him the customs and rules here in the castle. He liked the younger boy. Mikhail was closed off, and didn't talk much, but it showed that he was used to hard work. He did everything without any complaining, and seemed to have a sharp mind.

They finished in the kitchen at eight O'clock and Alexei decided to show Mikhail around the rest of the castle.

He showed him the stables and the outer limits of the castle. The inner part, where the young mistress and her people lived, could not be penetrated easily without authorization. Hyoga accepted that with a short nod.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

At last, Alexei showed him the sleeping quarters. It was a tiny room, with two narrow, very small beds, which almost filled the whole room. Only a little nightstand stood between the two beds.

Hyoga sat on the unoccupied bed, with its sheets still folded on the top of the futon. Alexei came in as well and let himself fall on the other bed, laying on his side, facing Hyoga, head propped up on his elbow, grinning widely. "Guess who is your roommate?"

Hyoga met his eyes and smiled vaguely. He wouldn't have minded under normal circumstances, but he had been prone to nightmares, since the loss of his Cosmo three days ago. He just hoped he would not give himself away and that Alexei was a deep sleeper.


	5. Chapter 5

It was three o Clock in the morning, when Alexei was woken from his sleep by a muffled sound.

He opened the eyes, rubbed at them sleepily with the backside of his hand and listened for the noise that had woken him. There, it was again, right from his right side. Sitting up, he tried to distinguish anything in the half-dark of the room, directing his gaze to the neighboring bed where saw Mikhail toss around and moan softly, obviously caught in a nightmare.

Alexei got off his own bed and sat on the edge of the other's matrace. He reached out and gently shook Mikhail's shoulder.

"Hey, wake up!" he urged softly.

Mikhail's eyes flew open with a start and the younger boy looked at him with a look full of surprise and fear. Slowly, recognition crept back into the brown eyes, as Mikhail seemed to remember where he was.

Alexei frowned. The short moment of panic and loss was the most his roommate had let his emotions show so far. The older boy had already guessed that the new kitchen-help hid something by his distant demeanor. Now he was sure that there was more to this boy than he let on.

"It's okay, Mikhail. It was just a nightmare," he soothed.

Mikhail sat up and the older boy could make out the shiver running through his body. His new roommate rubbed his own arms against some cold only he could feel with a stare that seemed still somewhat glazed and far off.

"I'm sorry," Mikhail whispered. "I didn't want to wake you."

"It's okay. What was it about?"

Mikhail just lowered his head without answering.

Alexei smiled and went back to his own bed. "It's alright if you don't want to talk about it. Everybody is entitled to his own secrets. Now try to go back to sleep."

With those words he turned to the wall and fell asleep soon after.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hyoga listened to his roommate's soft snores but sleep eluded him. He thought about Shun and unconsciously tried to reach out to feel his friend's Cosmo, only to come up with the same cold, empty feeling that represented his own loss. It was like a blind man trying very hard to see an object, although it was an impossible feat to achieve. He wondered what Shun was doing right now, only a short distance away. And he thought about Athena and the other Saints. They must have felt his Cosmo explode and vanish. Did they think he was dead? Did they really mind? Foremost, he though of Ikki. The Phoenix Saint would regret his loss, sure. After all, they were friends and had lived through a lot together, but he may even be relieved about it too. Yet it didn't really matter. He had betrayed Athena and they would not forgive him for that, no matter for what reasons. With the only exception being Ikki, of course. If he had been presented with the same choice, he would have done it himself, Hyoga was sure of that.

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The next two days were a repetition of the first, filled with hard, dirty work. But Hyoga didn't mind. At night he had long talks with Alexei before they slept. He had been lucky so far that the nightmares hadn't returned. And he had also started to enjoy Alexei's company.

"You may be able to see more of the castle in two days, Mikhail," Alexei said that evening. They both were lying on their beds, on their backs, arms crossed behind their heads.

"I heard Ivan talk to Igor today. The mistress is planning a great dinner in honor of her new boyfriend. And we are usually asked to help serve the meals when that happens."

Hyoga managed to just barely keep a somewhat straight face, staring at his neighbor with wide eyes. Finally the day had arrived when he would see Shun. He sighed happily and closed his eyes briefly.

Alexei misinterpreted his expression. "I know, it is an honor and we don't get the possibility to be so close to the mistress very often. Say, did you hear that her new boyfriend is one of Athena's Saints? Have you ever heard of them?"

Hyoga smiled and nodded.

"I must say I'm surprised she chose a Japanese boy. I always thought she hated anyone who wasn't Russian."

"I heard he was very handsome," Hyoga replied innocently.

"Yes, I know," Alexei sighed. "But still... She is so strictly against everything from the outside. Especially Athena and her Saints." He paused for a minute before the next words blurted out of him. "What do you think about it?"

Hyoga was taken aback by this question but he caught himself fast.

"I think they do their best to protect mankind."

Alexei propped his upper body up on his elbows, looking at his neighbor with big eyes.

"Natasha thinks they are a threat to mankind. And she expects her employees to support her point of view."

Hyoga just shrugged his shoulder.

"She would never tolerate your attitude towards them, and if she ever found out, you would be lucky if you only get fired."

"Are you going to tell her?" Hyoga asked, with a threatening undertone in his voice.

Alexei laughed. "Oh no, don't worry, I won't."

"I have my own opinions, and nobody can dictate my beliefs."

Alexei scrutinized him for a long time.

"If I told you a secret, would you keep it to yourself?"

Hyoga smiled at him. "It would definitely even the score. You won't tell, so I won't either."

Alexei relaxed back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

"My grandmother shared your opinion. She used to tell me the old tales of the Saints before I would go to bed. I envied them then." He turned his head and looked at his neighbor.

"Have you ever heard about the powers they possess? Some of them can create volcanoes, or hit so hard that they can break the ground with their fist, and provoke an earthquake just like that."

Hyoga closed his eyes and smiled again. It was kind of funny to let Alexei talk about the Saints, when he was one, or rather had been one. His amusement faltered at that thought.

Alexei lowered his voice to a conspiringly whisper, "I heard that a certain cast of them are trained here in Russia. In northern Siberia. They are called the ice-Saints and can create ice out of thin air."

Hyoga turned his head, looking at him, eyebrows lifted, the admittedly bitter amusement at the irony of the situation returning into his expression.

Alexei's face changed from excitement to anger. He stopped talking and hissed at Hyoga. "Don't give me such a look. Fine, don't believe me. But it is true."

With those words he turned angrily towards the wall and pulled his covers over his head.

Hyoga sighed silently. Alexei thought he did not believe him. Well, perhaps it was better that way.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next morning, they got the formal announcement from Ivan for the dinner the next day. The whole day was spent in busy preparations and they worked until late into night.

After they had finished in the kitchen, some servants came and instructed all dispensable helpers that were on the job about their duties for the next day. Natasha was expecting a number of rich and important inhabitants of her country, to celebrate her engagement to Shun.

They were shown how to behave and what duties to perform. And then they were sent to bed as it would obviously be a long day tomorrow.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ikki sat wearily on a bench in front of one of Tokyo's universities. The headmaster had shown him the entire building, and they had searched for eventual bombs in all hidden corners of the school that the man could think of.

They had found nothing of course. The same as with the entire past week. If the bombs really existed, they were hidden too well for the Saints or the police to find.

And who have given them any proof that there were bombs in the first place? All they had was the word of one crazy woman.

Ikki could understand Saori's attitude, despite all his protests. She had to make sure no innocent life was endangered. He _had_ promised her to be patient for now. She would contact Natasha again by the end of the week if they couldn't find any bombs until then. But Ikki doubted that she would be any more cooperative than she had been the first time. Saori had tried to get the Russian Government to help, but they would not do anything until she could give them at least some shred of proof.

Ikki didn't know what would happen if Natasha didn't see reason. None of the others had come up with a good idea about how to get Shun back, without endangering Tokyo's inhabitants. Seiya had suggested hiring a mercenary or detective to do the job. Saori had answered that it was not enough to free Shun. They had to disarm the bombs as well. And to get that information, would be difficult…illegal. And if somebody was willing to do it, he would have to have no scruples about walking a less than lawful road, something that Athena and the Graude Foundation were not willing to do. She would do it the proper way, and not fight a crime with another crime. Saori Kido was the head of a big influential company, and if anybody could connect her to any crime, it would be suicide for her business. She was not going to do something like that for now, before they had exhausted all other resources.

Ikki hated the waiting, but at least his brother was in no immediate danger. He could wait a little longer. But he would not wait indefinitely. His brother was the most important thing he had left in this world, and he would not let him down.

Another mystery to solve was Hyoga's sudden disappearance and the explosion of his Cosmo. Saori had tried to find him, but all she had come up with, was that he had emptied his bank account. They all had an account with a small amount of cash from the foundation at their disposal, which was refilled every month. If they bought anything, all they needed was the credit card with the name Kido on it to get whatever they wanted. Saori had made sure that they got everything that they wanted, a least financially. All of them had received a card with unlimited credit after the great Galaxian war as a sign of trust and gratitude.

The foundation had tried to track the Russian by his card, but it had not been used. Saori had blocked Hyoga's card as a precaution, in case it had been stolen by any chance. Ikki didn't think so. It had been Hyoga himself who had emptied the account. What for, he couldn't figure out. Also, even if he fought hard to suppress it, he worried about the Cygnus Saint and felt a great deal of remorse for the last words he had spoken to him. Still, he refused to believe him to be dead. Too many things just didn't add up for that conclusion.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shun sat on his bed, his back against the headboard, knees pulled tightly against his body, hugging them. Tears were flowing down his cheeks. He would not pull through for much longer. Natasha was the devil in disguise. She said that she loved him, but she only abused him. He felt ashamed and dirty and hated even her lightest of touches. He knew that he would break soon. He had managed to steal a knife, without her noticing it. It was not really sharp but it would do the job.

He only hoped his brother would understand. But he preferred to die, rather than be used again by her in this way. He just couldn't take it anymore. He was still hoping for a miracle from Athena, but nothing had happened. Oh, but he didn't blame them. They had a duty to the people of Tokyo foremost and couldn't risk any of them being killed. Instead he would take away from her the only reason for the bombs in the first place.

She had mocked him by showing him the computers, with which she could detonate the bombs and had showed him even the locations of the five bombs themselves. One for each of the Saints in Japan and one for Athena. And she had told him that she had made an even stronger barrier around the computer room than the one surrounding her lands. As soon as somebody with Cosmo entered the room, the bombs would go off.

So he knew where the bombs lay and how to disarm them. He had the power to break out and fight any of them without any problem, yet still he was helpless as a newborn baby and had to endure everything she did to him.

But last night she had gone too far. And he knew that she would do it again tonight. But he couldn't take it a second time.

He didn't want to die like this but he wanted her touches on him even less. He just regretted that the barrier kept him cut off from the Cosmos of his friends, so he couldn't even send them a goodbye.

He would participate at the great dinner she was about to hold, but when she came to his room later, all she would find was his cold corpse. She might possess his body, but she would never hold his soul. He was a Saint of Athena. He knew how much he would hurt his brother, Hyoga, and the others by committing suicide, but his duty and oath to Athena and the whole human race left him only one solution. He couldn't bear it if civilians died because of him. Their faith in their cause was the one thing Natasha underestimated. The life of a single Saint meant very little in the face of a greater good.

As if on command the door opened and Natasha rushed in.

"Are you ready, Love?" she said in a cheerful voice, but her happy behavior vanished, when she saw his tear-stricken face.

"What is the meaning of this?" she hissed. "I won't present my future husband to my friends like this. Put on the clothes I let you bring and make yourself presentable. I want you to be the perfect, happy host. You hear me? Or there will be a lot of funerals in Japan in the next few days. Do you understand me?" she threatened with hard eyes.

He nodded resigned.

She changed her demeanor again and lightly petted his cheek. He flinched, but after her hard, upset intake of breath, held still.

"That is my good boy. Now get ready, Love. I expect you to be ready for the evening in an hour."

She turned to leave but stopped and stared back at him before she reached the door. "If you are good tonight, I'll come to you later with your reward."

Shun let his head fall on his pulled up knees and fought the nausea, which he felt in the pit of his stomach. No more. It would all end tonight.

To the annonymous reviewers:

T: T, as in Torquemada? If so, then great to know that you're still around as well:-D If not then hi anyway but who are you?

Fire Chan: Thanks for your nice words


	6. Chapter 6

I am so sorry to have left you all waiting for so long. Unfortunately I couldn't get in touch with my betareader for a couple of months. Thus, this chapter is not betaed. If ever you find grave mistakes in it, feel free to e-mail me.

_Chapter 6_

Two hours later he was sitting at the big dining table, his head lowered, hands cradled in his lap, while the servants served the food. Shun didn't pay much attention to the people around him. He was showing a mere façade to the guests and doing a rather excellent job of that. Even while Natasha had presented him to the more important of her 'friends', he had only forced an innocent smile on his face, without really paying attention. Nothing would matter anymore in a few hours anyway.

He felt the presence of somebody reaching around him and putting a plate in front of him, brushing his shoulder with a feathery touch. Unconsciously, Shun flinched and looked up. He gasped in surprise when his gaze met the servant's familiar face. Even though the boy's eyes were brown, as was the hair, the features of Shun's long time friend were the same, and he'd be damned if he didn't knew those glasses.

Hyoga sent him a sideways glance and a small smile tugged at the corners of the Russian's lips, all the while he was shaking his head very slightly in silent communication. Shun understood and chased the surprised look from his face.

His friend stepped back and served the others on the table, without another look at him.

Shun closed his eyes in pure relief. He felt a warm feeling blossom in the pit of his stomach and engulf him. Hyoga was here, which meant that Athena had found a way to get around the barrier. He glanced to his right at Natasha to make sure she was not paying attention, but she was in a heated discussion with one of her landlords.

He glimpsed as indifferently as possible towards Hyoga, who was still doing his job, and reached out with his Cosmo to touch that of his friend – only to frown in startled surprise, when he touched nothing but emptiness.

He probed a little further but found no answering vibration from that other Cosmo he knew so well. Shun was surprised. He had supposed that Athena had found a way to disarm the shield, but that didn't seem to be the case. They sent somebody with no Cosmo, which meant Hyoga had somehow gotten rid of his, which also meant that he was as vulnerable as any normal human being. But how did she do that? Shun hadn't thought it was possible to separate somebody's Cosmo and body. But then again, Athena was a Goddess after all. He had seen her do miracles before. So why should she not be able to take ones Cosmo temporarily.

While he refused the urge to follow his Russian brother with his eyes, he directed all his apparent interest to the food in front of him, wondering that Ikki had not insisted to come along. He'd expected his niisan to bully his way into the role Hyoga now so obviously held to make sure he was alright. But then again, Hyogas disguise was absolutely perfect. If not for the well-known glasses Hyoga always wore to read at home, Shun himself wouldn't have been sure if it was really his friend he had been looking at. Especially without Cosmo.

Besides, he couldn't know if his brother or the others were not here as well. Maybe they were, and he just hadn't gotten to see them yet? And it was clear why they stayed hidden and didn't make themselves known. They planned to disarm the bombs before they could free him.

He had no right to kill himself anymore. He had to help them with their plan, especially since he knew exactly where the computers for the bombs were. All he had to do was to find a way to get in touch with one of them. But how? First of all he had to manage gaining more of Natasha's trust. He didn't kid himself, he was under close supervision by anyone here in the castle and she alone could get him more freedom to act. Unfortunately that also meant that he had to play along with her little games. He shuddered at that thought but collected himself fast. The tables had turned. He would get out of here, without any innocent lives at stake. Natasha was dangerous, and as a Saint he had the duty to eliminate the threat she posed to humanity. He had no right to act upon his own feelings anymore; he had been given an indirect part in Athena's newest fight for justice.

He turned towards Natasha who had finished her discussion from before. "I didn't know we had so many servants," he said in a pleasant tone but in very bad Russian, falling back to Japanese for some of the words, he didn't know. He did not know much Russian, except the few words and grammatical rules; Hyoga had taught him for fun and out of his own interest. His knowledge of the language was okay to find his way along as a tourist, but hardly enough to lead a conversation.

She looked at him with a start. Shun had so far refused to speak any word in Russian, even though she had given him books to learn it, and the fact that he spoke of 'we' seemed to really surprise but also please her.

"Well, some of them are from the kitchen, to help out," she answered.

Shun nodded and directed his attention back to his plate. So Hyoga was most likely working in the kitchen, since he had seen most of the other servants in the house at one time or the other.

_STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS_

Hyoga swallowed past the lump in his throat. He had been so exited to finally get to see Shun, but his heart had cramped, when he had actually done so. His friend as sitting at the table, shoulders slump and head lowered. He had looked so sad and full of despair and Hyoga had not been able to do anything about it, no matter how much he had wanted to.

Shun had held his head low and didn't look at anyone for a long time, and Hyoga was afraid that the Andromeda Saint might not even notice him.

When he had been putting the plate in front of his friend, he had deliberately touched Shun's shoulder.

He had very well noticed the flinch away from his touch, just like the look of surprise and panic in Shun's eyes, before the other boy had recognized him.

Natasha must have done something to him. Hyoga was certain of it. But it had to wait. Shun now knew that he was not alone anymore. Hyoga hadn't been sure if his friend would even recognize him, or even think that he was just somebody resembling his friend, once he felt no Cosmo. Hyoga had no way of knowing for sure, but he suspected that Shun had tried to contact his Cosmo, not finding anything. That alone would have been enough to hide his identity even from his best friend. But his features, together with exactly the same glasses he wore at home and often got teased about, would be one coincidence to many. Shun knew it was him, and now they needed to find a way to talk to one another.

He walked back to the door to leave the dining room, until he was needed again, when he heard a familiar voice.

"He doesn't look much like a warrior, doesn't he?"

Hyoga smiled at Alexei. "Appearances can deceive."

"Still I would just love to see him fight once," Alexei whispered.

"Be quiet," Hyoga shushed him. "Somebody could hear you."

"What kind of Saint do you think he is, Mikhail? Fire? Ice? Something else?"

Hyoga rolled his eyes and sighed.

"No, really. I would like to know. Even if you don't believe me about their powers, or that the ice-Saints have their origin in Russia."

"It is not that I don't believe you, but you're endangering us both by talking about it here. Wait until we are alone," Hyoga hissed and walked away.

_STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS_

Natasha entered Shun's quarters later that evening after the last of the guests had left and she had refreshed herself in her own quarters.

She found him sitting in a chair, reading one of the Russian books. She stood still and narrowed her eyes. Only after watching him a minute mutely, she stepped closer.

"What are you doing, Sasha?"

Shun sighed. She had from the beginning refused to call him by his real name, giving him a Russian name instead.

"I do what you want me to do, learn Russian."

"And why the sudden change in attitude?" she asked suspiciously.

Shun exhaled noisily and closed his eyes a moment. He had to be careful and give her a good show, so she would believe him.

He closed the book carefully, stood up and took her by the hand. Then he led her to the chair and urged her softly to sit down, applying light pressure on her shoulder. She complied.

He crouched in front of her and took both her hands in his.

He looked deep in her eyes before he spoke. "You want me to love you. But I don't and you know it. Nobody can make anybody love somebody else.

But I finally realized that I will be staying here for the rest of my life. I won't leave you and you know it. I may as well start to make my life here as enjoyable as possible. I will learn the language and who knows. Maybe I'll even like it here. I was forced to fight my whole life. But I hate it. I'm against violence, and I had the most peaceful time in my life since I came here. Maybe it is my destiny to stay here. I was never a born fighter in the first place.

Here and now, I accept your offer for marriage. And maybe in time, I will even learn to love you."

At his words, a smile appeared on her lips, which spread over her whole features. She was definitely pleased with his words and a flicker of triumph lay in her eyes. She leaned over to kiss him, but he laid two fingers on her lips, stopping her softly.

"I would like for us to take it slowly. We won't force anything and all will come naturally, okay?"

She smiled happily and nodded. "Oh Sasha, You won't regret it, I swear. You will love me, and we will be very happy."

With those words, she stood, caressed his cheek and left him alone.

He sank, cross-legged down to the floor and buried his face in his hand. She had bought it. It had really worked. And she had left him alone, without…. No, he wouldn't go there.

He felt at the same time sick, knowing what could have repeated itself, and satisfied, because he had deceived her. He had indeed never had a violent nature, but that woman would deserve every pain she would get.

T.B.C


	7. Chapter 7

_Before anyone tells me that they grew up while the PC- age was just developing, I know that but I am ignoring it to some extend, since it helps my plot. You gotta have to live with it, I suppose.:-P Besides, I think that the Saints and especially the Kidos are always on the top of technology, as seen during the grand tournament._

_On another note: It was never clear to me if they do teleport or not. (Okay, technically they move at light's speed but I'm not going crazy about such details.) Since they beat the Goldies who can, I assume they do too, since their Cosmo developed to Gold level and sometimes beyond during the fight at Sanctuary. (Beats me why they still travel like 'normal' people sometimes:-P)_

_Since I still don't have a Beta reader, this one comes up unbetaed. Hope there won't e too many mistakes._

_But now on with the story:_

**Chapter 7**

"So you _do_ believe me?"

"Alexei, shut up. I want to sleep," came the muffled response.

Hyoga had pulled the sheet over his head, trying to ignore his roommate's attempt at conversation.

"I won't be quiet, before you answer me," the older boy taunted in a sing-song voice.

Hyoga threw the covers down to his chest with a fluid motion and glared at the other in exasperation. "Okay, fine. Yes, I believe you."

Alexei sat up, grinning at the younger boy. "You do?"

Hyoga nodded.

"And about the ice-Saints being trained in Siberia?"

"If you say so."

"So, what kind of Saint do you think Natasha's boyfriend is?"

Hyoga gave up on sleep and turned on his side, looking at Alexei.

"What do you think?"

Alexei shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno. But I heard rumors that he is being held against his will. I don't think anybody can hold a Saint against his will. They are stronger than any prison."

Hyoga sat up too. "You really admire them? Don't you?"

Alexei sighed. "More than you think, Mikhail. You have no idea what it feels like to be alone in this world, when you are no more than a little eight-year-old kid. I loved my grandmother, and after her death I only had her dreams of peace and freedom. After what she had told me, it is that what the Saints and Athena are fighting for. Here, my life is wasted. I wanted to make a difference to be remembered one day."

"You don't need to be a Saint for that," Hyoga answered.

"No, but it has been my dream all my life. When I was a kid and my grandmother told me the old legends of the Saints and Athena, I had dreamed about possessing that power and fighting for the Goddess, and after Grandmother had died I wanted to do it for her. To keep her dream alive."

"It is said, that no one should become Saint for personal reasons," Hyoga said with a sad chuckle.

"Don't tell me they fight for anything but personal reasons. If you fight for something, you HAVE personal reasons. If they fight for peace, isn't that a personal reason? The desire to make a better place, isn't that a very personal desire? I don't think a Saint who just fights because he is told to, would be very successful."

Hyoga was quiet for a moment, thinking about Alexei's words.

"I think you're seeing the whole thing a bit too romantic. Have you any idea what they have to suffer, before they become as powerful as they are?"

"Better to suffer for a reason, than live for a unimportant existence. I have hoped to become a Saint when my grandmother died, but I had no idea how to get in touch with the people necessary. And before I knew it, I was too old to bother. The Saints start training at a very early age.

Who knows? If I'm very lucky, Natasha's Saint will show me his power someday."

Hyoga looked at him for a long time, while Alexei stared at the far off wall, with a distant, longing look on his face. He felt a pang of regret, for deceiving his new friend, but there was nothing he could do about it. The mission - his long time friend Shun - was more important. "I think it would be better if we slept now", he said, leaning back on the mat.

Alexei nodded and lay back down as well.

stsstsstsstsstsstssts

The next day went by uneventfully, and it was not until the following day, mid-afternoon, when Hyoga suddenly heard a nervous whisper run through the kitchen. He was standing at the back of the room, washing some dishes and couldn't see the front of the kitchen. Even though he was curious, what it was about, he didn't leave his work. He couldn't afford to get into trouble with his boss and therefore he avoided to be noticed more than he needed to be. While continuing with his chore, he observed some of the female helps hurry to the supply room and come out again a minute later, carrying some fruit. With their load they disappeared back to where they came from.

After a minute or so, he heard Ivan call him. Hyoga took off his apron and laid it aside with a sigh, before he followed the order and went to the front of the kitchen too. So much about staying unnoticed, he thought.

But as soon as he got a clear view of the front of the big room, he inhaled sharply and had to fight the urge to stand still in surprise. Shun stood at Ivan's side, listening with neutral expression to something the big man said. Hyoga followed his lead and kept his face emotionless as well.

"Mikhail here will help you and carry the fruits for you, sir," The large man addressed the younger one in broken English.

Shun just nodded, turned and walked out of the room, without as much as a glance at Hyoga.

Hyoga took the basket full of fruits, standing on the floor and followed the Saint out of the room.

After they were out of earshot from the kitchen, Shun slowed his pace and let Hyoga catch up with him.

"Mikhail, Hmm? Whose idea was that?" he smiled.

Hyoga smiled back at him. "I didn't cut my hair, just to give myself away with my real name, you know. By the way. Good to see you."

Shun nodded shortly. "It was hard to find an excuse to see you, and I wasn't sure if it would be you who were selected to help me carrying the heavy basket."

"Not to mention, that you could carry it very well yourself."

Shun grinned at him. "We wouldn't want your cover blown, now would we?"

Hyoga answered with a grin.

"Let's go talk in my room. We'll be unobserved there", Shun said.

Hyoga nodded and followed his friend.

They arrived at Shun's quarters and stepped in. Shun closed the door carefully behind them, and Hyoga posed the fruits on the table.

"You have no idea, how glad I was to see you, even though I almost didn't recognize you at first."

"And what gave me away?" Hyoga asked, eyebrows raised.

"Your glasses. I have told you before that they are ugly and you should get lenses instead."

"Well, I am wearing lenses at the moment," Hyoga smiled.

Shun laughed. Hyoga grinned back, went to the Saint and gave him a tight hug, getting an answering hug from his friend.

"We were very worried about you, Shun," Hyoga said, looking his friend over. "You don't look so good."

Shun dismissed Hyoga's worried glance with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry about that. I'll be okay now that you are here. Where are the others?"

"No others. I'm alone."

Shun looked at him thoughtfully. "Yes, guess it was easier to get one of you here, and since you speak the language perfectly you're the best choice."

Hyoga didn't answer. Shun would know soon enough what had really happened.

"And what did Athena manage with your Cosmo? I couldn't feel it, when I reached out."

"It's gone," Hyoga simply stated.

"Yes, I figured that myself," Shun laughed. "Must be a weird feeling, being temporarily without Cosmo, no?"

Hyoga stared at Shun. His friend thought that Athena had 'temporarily' freed him of the Cosmo? Well if that was the case, he would leave him in that belief for now. They had enough other problems the moment, without his betrayal too.

"Not very pleasant, really," he answered. "Look Shun. We don't have much time. I was planning to disarm the bombs, and then escape with you. I already checked the area around the castle. We will have to flee trough the woods until the boarder of Natasha's lands."

"Why don't we just teleport out? She has no hold over me any longer, once she doesn't have the bombs as a threat anymore."

"Okay, then I will flee trough the woods, you teleport," Hyoga said with a smirk.

"Oh damn, I forgot. You can't teleport without Cosmo. In that case, we'll flee together. No way that I leave you back.. Isn't Athena coming to help us, once the bombs are of no more danger?"

Hyoga bit his lower lip. They were moving on dangerous ground if he intended to keep his secret a little longer.

"No, she won't. Listen, we can discuss this, once we're out of here. We don't have much time, and can't meet again before we escape. We can't risk to attire attention. If Natasha looks at me too closely, she might recognize me.

Do you know if she can detect the location of a Cosmo? Do we have to eliminate the barrier?"

Shun shook his head. "No, she can only tell how many developed Cosmos there are on her lands. We will have to disarm the bombs, though. I know their locations, so we can destroy them, once we're back in Japan. But I can't do it. She has put a yet stronger barrier around this room, and as soon, as anybody with Cosmo goes there, one of the bombs will go off."

Hyoga nodded slowly. "So I will be the one to do it."

"You know how to handle the Computers?" Shun asked.

Hyoga just glared at him with raised eyebrows. "What do you think. We don't have computers in Siberia?"

Shun lifted his hands. "Okay, okay, forgive me for asking. Unfortunately I don't have the pass-word to enter the program."

"Well, I do. At least, if they didn't change it in the last month," Hyoga answered.

Shun looked at him, puzzled. "Where did you get that from?"

Hyoga just shrugged.

"You know the location of the computer room?"

"Yes. It is situated in the basement. You have to go to the west-wing and walk the hallway to its end. At your right, there is a heavy door, which will lead you to a stair. The door at its end is the one to the computer room", Shun explained.

"The only problem will be to sneak out unnoticed."

"The best would be to do it at night, so you have more chances to get that far."

"Well, I have a roommate with a light sleep. He will definitely hear me leave."

"I'm sure you'll think of something", Shun responded.

"I will wait for the weekend, when there is less staff around. Be ready to get out on Sunday morning. Meet me at the front gate at four o'clock.."

"And if it doesn't work out, or you get caught?"

Hyoga just looked at him calmly. "Let's just hope, nothing goes wrong. We only have this one chance. And if I'm not at the gate by four, you can only hope that I didn't find a chance to get out in the first place. Otherwise our plan will fail, before it's started."

Shun nodded seriously. He didn't want to think about what would happen if something went wrong and Hyoga was caught.

"Alright. I think I better go back or they will start to miss me in the kitchen. I'll see you on Sunday." Hyoga smiled at his friend and turned to leave.

"Bye Hyoga, be careful," Shun said.

"Do you really have Computers in Siberia?" he added as an afterthought.

Hyoga turned with a smirk. "We don't even have electricity, most of the time.

"See you on Sunday." And with those words, he was out of the door.

Shun watched him leave with wide eyes, and then shook his head. "He looks like a nerd, but Saori really should have sent somebody who really knows what to do with Computers," he mumbled to himself.

t.b.c.


	8. Chapter 8

**_I found myself a new, wonderful Betareader. Thank you so much, Kittyluv, for volunteering. I'm so exited to have you for help. Thanks!!!! _**

**Chapter 8**

When Hyoga came back to the kitchen, Ivan was already waiting for him, sending him furious looks and tapping his left foot impatiently.

"What took you so long? You don't get paid to stroll the grounds. The dishes still need to be washed, boy."

Hyoga just nodded without reply, brushed passed the big man and went back to his chore.

Some time later, he saw Alexei sneak around the corner from the main-part of the kitchen, checking that he wasn't observed, first, then strolling as casually as possible towards him.

"Hey Mikhail," he whispered. "Is it true? You had to help the Saint?"

Hyoga's face stayed unexpressive and he shrugged, his hands never stopping as he soaped up and rinsed some clipped, white plates. "Yes, why?"

"Oh shit. And I wasn't here!" Alexei groaned. "Maybe Ivan would have sent me if I had been here. That's so unfair." He groaned again for show and put on a miserable face, which didn't last long as he grinned broadly at Hyoga.

"Did you talk to him? How is he?" he started to ask, when Ivan's shouting voice was heard, calling for him impatiently.

"Oh, shit. We'll talk tonight." He stared the younger boy down sternly. "I want a full report, you hear me?" With those demands, and a grin which rendered his stern words kind of useless, he rushed away.

Hyoga chuckled inwardly. He really liked Alexei. His roommate reminded him a lot of Isaac. He would definitely miss the Russian boy, but what he regretted more was that he would not be able to explain his sudden leaving when the time came.

He chased those thoughts away for the moment.

"So tell me?" Alexei practically radiated glee, while he dug into his roommate with an excited voice. All workers had gone to bed and silence had fallen over their part of the castle long before.

"Tell you what?" Hyoga asked in an innocent voice. It had been impossible _not_ to notice the anxiousness of Alexei, while he waited until it was safe to have this discussion.

"What was he like?"

"He is just a normal, nice guy."

Alexei snorted. "Yeah, right. What did you talk about? Did he say anything at all? C'mon Tovarish, tell me. Don't make me beg you."

Hyoga chuckled. "He didn't say much. Just some small talk," he lied.

Alexei propped his upper body up on his elbows, looking over at his neighbor. "Why didn't you ask him to show you his power, or at least ask him what powers he possesses? You could have asked him. Didn't you think of me, and that I would want to know?"

Hyoga still looked up at the ceiling, like he had been since the beginning of their conversation, but an amused smile played around his lips. The mock insulted tone of Alexei's question only fueled his intention to play along in this little bickering "I could have asked him for a signed Photo, so I could make you a wall-paper to hang over your bed, and then you could dream about hmphh…." His last word was swallowed by a pillow, which flew into his face.

"Oh just stop it, Mop-head," Alexei growled, offended but with a slightly amused gleam in his eyes. "And to think I called you a friend," he said, reaching over to grab back his pillow.

Hyoga's smile vanished from his lips. Alexei had called him a friend. He would never have considered finding a friend here on his mission. A friend who made it so easy to be with and trust, like he'd hardly ever had before. He had played with the thought today, telling Alexei the truth in a letter, which he would leave him. But if he did that, he would have to tell him everything about his betrayal to Athena. He had thought before that Alexei would have the right to know what he had done and why, since Alexei admired the Saints so much. But now, he couldn't tell him anymore.

Before, as somebody Alexei just knew, he might have understood the reasons, even though he would not approve them, but as a friend he would feel betrayed as well. So he would never know who Mikhail really was, and he would just disappear one night.

Ivan would tell them some kind of excuse. Natasha would hide the truth, since almost nobody knew that she had _kidnapped_ the Andromeda-Saint.

It was better to let Alexei live with that lie, than with the bitter truth.

And still, somewhere in a dark, selfish place of his heart, Hyoga was happy about Alexei's friendship. He had lost everything by his own will, and knew that he would lose even more, once the others would realize what he had done. But this one friendship might still last if Alexei would never know the truth. It was a little comfort and warmed the empty place in his soul, where his Cosmo had once burned so brightly.

He had slowly gotten used to ignoring the cold, empty feeling in his heart and soul most of the time. But in those silent moments before falling asleep, where nothing distracted him, he felt terribly cold and alone and sleep brought him nothing but nightmares. But never did he remember any of those. Alexei knew about them, and witnessed some himself, waking his roommate, but never asking him anymore what it was about, respecting his privacy.

Hyoga enjoyed the next days as much as possible, spending time and long night talks with Alexei, knowing it would be the last time they would speak to one another.

Saturday night. He kept the conversation on till late, hoping that Alexei would be too tired and sleep too sound to hear him leave later.

After Alexei had finally fallen asleep, Hyoga stayed awake in his bed. He was too nervous to sleep anyway. He had gotten precise instructions how to enter the program and Kavolsky had even given him the password to enter the file necessary. Hyoga had no idea how the man had gotten the knowledge of the program or the password. Taking into consideration his background, his ways must have been highly illegal at best. But Hyoga didn't care. His only goal was to save his best friend. No matter what.

At two o' clock in the morning he sat up on his bed and began to get dressed as soundlessly as possible. He was just tying his shoes when he heard a noise from the neighbored bed.

Alexei moved and blinked sleepily a few times. "What are you doing?" he mumbled sleep-drunken.

'Shit,' Hyoga thought. He moved quick and struck his extended hand onto a precise point at the side of Alexei's neck. The older boy was out cold the second Hyoga hit him, slumping back onto his pillow like dead weight.

At a very young age, Hyoga had learned every vulnerable spot on a human body, and where to hit to get a desired effect. Alexei would wake up with a headache from hell, but he would not be hurt seriously.

Hyoga had hoped he could avoid such hard measures, but he could not risk being caught and stopped now. Shun had tried to hide it from him, but Hyoga had perfectly well seen the deep desperation in his friend's eyes.

People often underestimated his ability to read other humans, since he was often so cold and closed up on himself and didn't let his own feelings show to the outside. It was a necessary ruse he had learned to hide his too big emotionality from his enemies.

He looked down on the other Russian and felt stinging regret in his heart and reached out to straighten Alexei's head, which lay at an uncomfortable looking angle.

"I'm sorry Alexei. Have a good life my friend."

With those words and a last pat of the unconcious boy's shoulder, he exited the room, taking with him only a thick coat and some gloves.

Taking a careful glimpse down the hallway, where the servant's rooms lay and convincing himself that it was empty, Hyoga hurried towards the exit.

The former Saint got out without being disturbed and found the entrance of the main house luckily unguarded.

He had memorized the layout on the plans, and found the door Shun had described easily enough. He opened it carefully, listening intently for any traitorous squeak of the old hinges. But all remained quiet and with a relieved exhale, he closed the heavy wooden door behind himself and hurried down the long stairwell behind it. He stayed on his guard and moved silently until he reached a heavy modern-looking doorway. There was no handle but a dial-mechanism beside the metal door-panel. Other than that mechanic security-system, no one was guarding the door.

In her arrogance, Natasha didn't think it necessary to put up more protection. She clearly didn't expect an attack from within. And even if such an attack were to occur, nobody would get past that door without the right code, even if someone were foolish enough to try. Unfortunately for her, and fortunately for Hyoga, Kavolsky was no usual 'someone' and had somehow found out the code _and_ the computer-passwords.

Hyoga approached the panel and typed in the code, looking with uncertain eyes to the blinking red light on top of the panel. The red blinking continued for a few seconds before it switched to a green steady one, and the door opened with a hiss. Hyoga let out a breath he hadn't been aware he had been holding and stepped into the room.

He found himself in a large area, filled with monitors and machines. In its middle the blond Russian spotted a huge computer on a large desk. He approached it and sat down in the heavily stuffed chair behind the keyboard and 21-inch Monitor. Reaching down to turn on the Computer, he tried to relax and calm his wildly beating heart. He was nervous and he wasn't denying it. Hyoga preferred an open fight over this sneaking around in a strange house. He felt like a thief and really uneasy, even though he would be able to defend himself even without Cosmo, as long as they wouldn't use firearms or he wasn't too outnumbered.

He had joked about it with Shun but the truth was that his computer skills were not the greatest. Not that he didn't like working on them, or even that he was not good at learning the skill. On the contrary. Saori had insisted that they all would learn how to use those machines, and his teachers were amazed how quick he absorbed everything - It has been one of his strong points ever since he was a child. One circumstance which allowed him to learn other languages, like Japanese very fast and learn to adapt quickly - but the problem was simply lack of time. Between his fights and his time in Siberia and lately often in hospitals, he just didn't have much time left to get deeper into using a computer.

He watched the screen come to life and started to type on the keyboard to enter the requested program. When he attempted to open the first file, the program requested the password.

He entered the word he had learned from Kavolsky, and to his relief, the program granted him access readily.

As soon he finished changing the program after Kavolsky's instructions and disarmed the bombs for good with a virus, he closed the program and shut the computer down. The virus would take them weeks to dissolve. By that time, they would have destroyed the bombs for good, with the help of Shun who knew of their locations.

Hyoga pushed off the chair and walked to the door.

Just as he reached toward the opening mechanism, the door opened and he came face to face with Igor.

The big man stared at him with wide, startled eyes and an open mouth.

Hyoga freed himself from the surprise first and without thinking, only reacting to the survival instincts of a warrior, rammed his fist into the bigger man's abdomen.

Natasha's guard doubled over slightly, but didn't go down.

Hyoga tried to pass beside him, but a strong crushing grip on his arm hindered him and stopped him in mid-movements. 'Damn' he thought, trying to free himself, to no avail.

"You little shit, you're not getting away. What have you done here?" the big man yelled at him.

Hyoga, instead of trying to break free anymore, moved forward and stepped close to Igor, into his personal space. Igor took a surprised step back, and Hyoga used this moment of inattention and closed the distance between them, reaching with one leg behind Igor's knees and pushing him over it. The big man lost his balance and fell heavily to the ground. While he fought for his equilibrium, he lost his grip on Hyoga's arm.

Hyoga didn't hesitate and delivered a well-placed blow to the others' temple.

If he had still had his Cosmo, the blow would have been fatal, but as it was, it was still enough to render his opponent unconscious.

Hyoga turned and hurried out of the room and up the stairs. He didn't know how long Ivan would stay out, but they had to hurry even more now than they had thought at first.

He found Shun, waiting by the front gate, just like they had agreed on.

"You made it. You have no idea how worried I was," Shun greeted him.

"We have to hurry, Shun. They will soon be following us," Hyoga answered, pulling his friend with him. As they exited the front gate, Hyoga saw two unconscious guards lying in the snow.

Hyoga took the lead and hurried towards the first line of trees while putting on his gloves. He directed his pace to the hollow tree and crouched down in front of it, moving the branches aside and pulling a duffel bag out of the hole.

"What is that?" Shun asked.

"Our supplies. We will need to travel for several days to the border. I packed everything we will need to make it there."

Shun shook his head. "Saori thought of everything, didn't she?"

Hyoga ignored the comment, swung the bag on his back and walked deeper into the woods, Shun by his side.

They walked at a fast pace, without talking for several hours.

Hyoga stopped his companion only after the pale sun had long since risen.

"I think we have put quite some distance between us and them. Let's slow down a bit."

Shun nodded looking at his friend worriedly. "Sure. Are you alright?"

Hyoga smiled. "Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

"I just thought you'd be having trouble keeping up without your Cosmo."

"Our endurance is training, not Cosmo, Shun. I'm fine."

Shun nodded and kept on walking. Hyoga knew that Shun worried easily, and he had to admit that he cherished that compassion from his friend.

In fact, he started to feel the cold creeping up on him. His feet hurt and so did his fingers, despite his thick boots and gloves. He knew that he was in danger of getting a serious frostbite, but he ignored the pain and the danger. There was nothing to be done about it anyway.

But what did worry him was Shun. He was unusually closed off and there was a deep shimmer of pain in his eyes. Something was bothering him, tearing him up inside.

"What about you?" he asked quietly.

Shun turned his head, stopped and looked at him, startled. "What do you mean, Hyoga?"

Hyoga closed the distance between them and halted a step before his friend, looking deep into those expressive eyes for a moment, trying to read him. "What is wrong with you, Shun?"

Shun's eyes widened, a flicker of fear flickering in their depths for a second, before it disappeared again.

"Nothing is wrong with me. I'm alright," he answered in such an unprovoked gruff voice, it just didn't feel right coming from gentle Shun's mouth. "Come on, we have to keep moving." With those words, he turned his back on Hyoga and walked on.

Hyoga sighed and followed him.


	9. Chapter 9

_Again, the best thanks to Kittyluv, who is a great Betareader and to all the reviewers. Your reviews are love_

**Chapter 9**

"How dare he leave me!?" Natasha raved, pacing the computer room, ignoring the frowning young man who was taping frantically on the keyboard of the computer, and Igor, who hovered over him with blazing eyes.

Igor had regained consciousness early in the morning and it was soon to be discovered that the Saint had fled. They found two guards laying in the snow in front of the main gate, unconscious as well and half frozen by the cold.

Natasha had been furious once they had woken and informed her about what had happened. Striding to the computer room, she had nursed all intention to fulfill her threat about the bombs. She didn't allow anybody to deceive her. But when she had started the computer, all that was showing on the screen was an incredible amount of numbers making no sense at all. Ivan had already suspected something like that after he had surprised the new kitchen help here. He knew that part of this was his fault. The boy had intrigued him the minute he had seen him but he had hired him anyway. Oh. He had done a thorough check on him, but not carefully enough, it seemed. Natasha had visited the old witch, who had provided her with the shield in the first place. But the old wrench who lived in a remote, dark part of the castle, had assured her that the shield was still working properly.

So Saori had sent a man of hers who wasn't a Saint.

A middle-aged man hurried into the room with a folder in his hand, which he handed Igor with a nervous sideways glance at the angry woman.

Igor took the folder and stepped up to her.

"My lady. Here is the file about the boy who helped him."

He walked over to a small table and opened the file. Natasha followed and picked up the snapshot, attached to the first sheet of paper by a safety pin. She intently studied the face on the picture while listening to Igor rumble about unsuspicious background and second checks he did.

Natasha wasn't really interested in his excuses. The face on the photo seemed familiar. She was sure that she had seen him before, but she could not place were that had been.

She underestimated Saori, she knew. But she would never have guessed that she might be able to send a spy who would fit in so perfectly. She knew that Saori Kido had no Russians working for her, with exception of….

Her head jerked up and she gasped, eyes wide. That was impossible.

Hurrying over to a desk, Natasha opened the top drawer. She leafed through a pile of folders, before she took one of them out and headed back to the small table, where Igor stood and observed her frantic movements.

She laid the new folder on top of the other, opened it and took off another photo, closed the folder and laid the photo on top of it, together with the first one.

Igor looked over her shoulder at the two pictures. One of the two boys on them had brown, short hair, brown eyes and was wearing glasses, the other had blond, shoulder length hair blue eyes and no glasses. But the features were exactly the same.

"That bitch sent one of her Saints. That stupid whore really sent one of her Saints, even though I warned her!" Natasha yelled out in rage.

She turned with a start, looking up at Igor with blazing eyes. "Find them. Do whatever has to be done to find them. You will bring me back my Sasha, and I will make sure he'll never attempt anything like this again. I'll teach him who has the say here."

"What about the other?" Igor asked.

"Hyoga?" She practically spat the name. "Make that traitor to his land regret that he ever came here. Kill that son of a bitch, but make sure he suffers."

"Very well, miss," Igor said, turned and started to leave. Natasha was blinded by her fury. It would do no good telling her that they had no chance to catch two Saints, even less kill one of them.

He addressed the man who had brought the file earlier. "I want all new personnel fired immediately. And nothing of this here will leave this room, understood. Go get Mikhail's stuff that might have been left behind and destroy it. If anyone asks, he has been fired as well. As for the Miss' fiancé, he left for personal reasons and is expected to be back soon, understood?"

The man nodded and left to carry out his orders.

Igor left as well, to prepare the pursuit of the fugitives. He had to get it done with his most trusted men who would keep their mouth shut. But the number of his men was unimportant anyway, since they had no chance to take them out in a fair fight. Absently, he rubbed his hurting head. He was lucky to be alive as it was, since he had been taken out by a Saint.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

Alexei woke from a loud banging sound on the door.

Moaning he sat up, still dazed.

"Why can't I remember the party?" he murmured, rubbing his hurting temples.

"Mikhail. Go open the door," he said, but received no answer from the neighbored bed.

"Mikhail?" He looked over to the other bed, only to find it empty. His young roommate was not here. He frowned in confusion, but stood up and moved on shaky legs to open the door.

One of the senior guards stepped in, pushing him back in the process. The man moved over to the other bed without a word. He opened the wooden chest located at its bed's foot side and started pulling out clothes.

"Hey," Alexei protested. "Those are Mikhail's clothes."

"Mikhail and all the other new employees have been fired. He has already left early this morning and I will send him his things."

Alexei stared at the man open mouthed. "You gotta be kidding. Mikhail would never just leave without saying good bye first."

The guard didn't interrupt his actions while he answered. "He was notified earlier this morning and not given any time to collect his things or say good bye. You still slept when he left."

Alexei narrowed his eyes. He would have waken up if Mikhail had left, wouldn't he? Even with his headache.

"There have been threats against our lady from a neighbored landlord and she is not taking any risk having spies here," the guard continued. He pushed the last piece of clothing into a bag and exited the door without any further comment.

Alexei sat heavily on the edge of his bed, staring at the empty bed on the other side of the room.

Mikhail wouldn't have left without saying good bye. He wouldn't have. Or maybe Mikhail had never considered him a friend in the first place. Alexei suddenly felt foolish, having told him about his dreams. He remembered Mikhail's mocking smile when he had told him about the ice-Saints. Now he knew why. Mikhail had probably never taken him seriously in the first place.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

It was slowly getting dark when the two fugitives stopped at a clearing. They had wandered until now without resting or eating more than a cereal bar, which Hyoga had dug from the duffel bag.

"I think this place will be okay for the night," Shun said, looking around. He had sidestepped Hyoga's every attempt at questioning and after the second time, Hyoga had given up asking. But that didn't mean that he would not keep on trying to know what bothered Shun. His friend would tell him when he was ready to do so.

"They won't search for us at night. It will get too cold for them to keep up the search," Hyoga responded.

"What about you? My Cosmo is protecting me from the cold."

"I brought a sleeping bag. We won't both be able to sleep anyway, just in case Natasha's men will catch up with us. One of us has to stay up at any time. We will take turns sleeping and holding guard."

Shun nodded and Hyoga set the duffel bag on the ground and crouched down beside it.

"I brought some instant soup and a small pan. We can melt some ice. Bringing water would be added, useless weight. It would be frozen by now anyway," Hyoga said, while starting to unpack the large bag. "Could you go see if you can find some dry wood for a fire?"

Shun nodded again and walked off to the trees.

After he was out of sight, Hyoga halted his actions and pulled off the heavy gloves with his teeth. His fingers had long since gone almost completely numb and looking at them now, he noticed the bluish hint to them. He cursed inwardly, rubbing his hands together, blowing at them, trying to get them warm and improve the circulation. He felt that his feet were not much better off but he knew he would be able to get a little warmer, once the fire was started.

Fortunately, they didn't have to be careful to hide their whereabouts. Their traces wouldn't be easy to follow in the frozen snow no matter what they did.

After getting some stinging sensation back in his fingers, he untied the cord around the sleeping bag, unrolled it and opened it after some fruitless tries, handling the zipper with his almost numb fingers. Hyoga put the open bag around his shoulders for additional warmth, held it closed around his shoulder with one hand and placed the lighter and one of the bags with the soup on the ground with the other. He put his gloves back on and then waited for Shun to come back.

He didn't have to wait for long and Shun returned with his arms full of branches of all sizes.

The younger Saint put them on the ground and wipped away the worst of the snow, before he laid some dry looking moss on the floor and built a small pyramid out of thin sticks on top of it. He then took the lighter and started the fire.

Hyoga just stood beside him, watching. He would not have been able to light the small lighter with his half frozen hands and was happy that Shun had taken on this task without any questions.

An hour later, they sat quietly in front of a warm fire. Hyoga sat close enough, so that the flames had brought some warmth back into his feet and hands and they now lost their numbness and he felt them sting slightly, as circulation began to normalize itself. They had heated some water for the soup and it had felt good to ingest something warm.

While eating and cleaning up afterwards, they hadn't spoken much. Only the necessary, Shun still being pretty much closed off and only giving evading one word answers to any attempt at conversation Hyoga made.

So Hyoga looked up surprised, when Shun, without taking his eyes off the flames, addressed him out of the blue.

"Hyoga, could you do me a favor?"

Hyoga narrowed his eyes. "Sure, what is it?"

Shun looked up, meeting his eyes. "Could you please take off the lenses? You just don't look like yourself with brown eyes."

Hyoga smiled. He had taken off the glasses earlier that day himself, putting them away in the bag. But he could understand Shun's request. He barely recognized his own image in the mirror those last days, since he had lost his Cosmo and become Mikhail Tovish.

"Sure, No problem. They started to bother me anyway of the late. It is not very comfortable to keep them on all the time."

He lowered his head to one side and reached up to take out first one lens, then doing the same with the other side. He blinked the tears away, which the irritation removing the lenses produced and smiled at Shun "Better?"

Shun gave a shy smile himself, which didn't reach his eyes though and nodded slightly, before he lowered his gaze to the flames again.

Hyoga stared at him for a long time. Shun seemed so sad and subdued it hurt him deeply.

"What is wrong with you, Shun? " he asked softly.

"Nothing," came the blunt reply.

"Shun," Hyoga began. "I'm your friend. Talk to me, please. Maybe I can help."

He saw Shun biting his lower lip and in the flicker of the flames, Hyoga thought he could see tears shining in his friend's eyes.

"There is nothing to talk about," Shun finally said in a hoarse voice, and rose with a start. "I'll go take a look at the perimeter, then I will take the first guard. You better try to get some sleep. I'll wake you in three hours to switch places." And with that he left.

Hyoga sighed. He didn't know how to get Shun to open up to him. So he zipped the sleeping bag closed, moved his body inside and let the warmth of the near by fire and the bag lull him to sleep.

He woke seemingly only one instant later, when a warm hand shook his shoulder softly. "Hey Hyoga, time to switch places."

Hyoga blinked a few times to chase the worst sleep out of his body and sat up. A cold breeze blew over his body, when he slipped out of the warm sleeping bag and he shivered involuntary.

He reached over for his boots and gloves - the only clothing he had taken off - by the fire. The soft furred leather felt warm and chased some of the cold of the night air.

He stood and Shun took off his own shoes and laid down in the sleeping bag, closing his eyes. Hyoga sat beside the fire, hugging himself for additional warmth. The night was freezing, as he had expected, but he didn't expect how unpleasant it could feel.

It had been such a long time since he had experienced it as a non-Saint. And he was even good off, since he grew up in a cold climate and his body showed more resistance against the cold than normal peoples did. But still he felt it. His gaze wandered over to Shun, who slept peacefully. His friend wore only a light coat and shoes, not meant to be in the outdoor for so long, but Shun showed no sign of being cold or physically uncomfortable. His Cosmo warmed him and made him not even feel the freezing wind.

Hyoga closed his eyes involuntary and felt for his Cosmo out of a reflex, finding only the hollow feeling, which accompanied him since he had visited the old lady in Tokyo the last time.

He felt himself shiver, but this time not from the cold.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

Natasha climbed the stairs to the dark quarters of the old witch.

She opened the heavy wooden door, once she reached the end of the short hallway on top of the stairs. She felt very uncomfortable being here, as the old woman was giving her the creeps. But the witch had proven her usefulness a few times already, being in service of Natasha's father before her, so she tolerated her presence, being glad that the old woman stayed in her small rooms in the most remote part of the castle and only ever ventured out to search for herbs and things she needed for her magic and potions.

Natasha entered the dark quarters, greeted by the typical strong scent she had come to associate with the old witch.

The castle's mistress carefully crossed the room, stuffed with bottles and cans on seemingly every available surface, finding the old woman sitting on a chair, mixing some liquid in a bowl on her lap.

"One of Athena's Saints has come to my land, unnoticed," she accused. "You said nobody with Cosmo could come here without being noticed."

"As it is the truth."

"Then how could the swan-Saint get here without you knowing it!?" She yelled at the old woman, who didn't seem a bit intimated by the young woman's outburst.

"No Saint can come through the barrier without me knowing it," she said calmly.

"Are you listening at all to what I'm saying?"

"No Saint can come through the barrier," she repeated, emphasizing each word.

"Well you're wrong. The Cygnus-Saint WAS here."

"You mean the former Cygnus-Saint."

"WHAT?"

The old woman smirked. "He has no Cosmo. Even if he used to have one at one time, he doesn't now."

Natasha looked at her incredulous. "But you said it was impossible to hide a developed Cosmo."

"It is. But there is one way to destroy it."

"So that means he would be as vulnerable as any human?"

The old witch lifted one finger in a silent warning. "Beware, and don't underestimate him. He has no more special powers but he still is a valiant warrior.

But he would not be used to fight without Cosmo. That, you could use as an advantage."

Natasha smirked. She had to make Igor know that little detail. It could help him get Sasha back.

Without a word of thanks, she left the room at a fast pace.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

The old woman watched her leave and then stared out the small window by her right, a slight smile around her wrinkled lips. "So, it seems that you want to fight me, dear sister. We will see who will win in the end."


	10. Chapter 10

_Betaed by the wonderful Kittyluv._

_To AmYa: Thanks for the review. Sadly, there is no way, Athena or any Saint, or event he old, wise woman who destroyed it, can restore a Cosmo, once destroyed. But that's not the end of it for Hyoga._

**_Chapter 10:_**

Hyoga broke up their camp early in the morning. They couldn't dare lose any more time.

The former Saint had kept the fire burning all night, managing to stay at least a little warm. But still, when the morning dawned, he felt stiff and his muscles ached.

He watched Shun fold the sleeping bag, tying the rope around it and stuffing it back into the duffel. The green haired Saint stood and swung the bag onto his shoulder.

"I can carry that," Hyoga said.

Shun looked at him. "You carried it yesterday. It's my turn now."

Hyoga nodded and Shun started to walk on. Hyoga hefted his eyes on his friend's back as he followed him silently. This had been the first real sentence he had heard from the younger Saint. He was even more closed off than the day before and Hyoga knew why. Shun had been having nightmares, turning and mumbling in his sleep restlessly. Hyoga hadn't woken him, not sure it would have been appreciated. But he couldn't just do nothing.

"You had a nightmare last night?" he asked carefully, leaving it open to his friend how much he wanted to reveal, hoping against all hope that he would not feel pushed and, maybe, talk about it.

Shun didn't look back and his answer was sharper and colder than the Siberian wind. "It is none of your business."

Hyoga was not used to such a tone coming from Shun. He didn't like this change at all.

"You have been talking in your sleep," he probed a little further.

Shun turned with a start, staring at him with wide, panic-stricken eyes. "What did I say?"

Hyoga frowned. "You just mumbled, I couldn't understand a thing."

Shun visibly relaxed. "Let it drop Hyoga. It is none of your business. And next time, wake me up, instead of eavesdropping on me."

"I didn't..." Hyoga began startled.

"Just wake me next time," Shun interrupted sharply, turning back and taking on his pace again.

"Alright. Don't get mad," Hyoga said in what he hoped was a calming voice. "I'm just worried. Something is bothering you and I only wanted to…"

That was as far as he got before Shun was on him, pushing him backwards against a tree, holding the front of his coat in his fist, staring at Hyoga with blazing eyes. "Are you stupid or just stubborn? I told you to keep out of my business!" he yelled at the Russian with hateful eyes.

"Okay Shun," Hyoga said, arms lifted in a non-threatening manner, trying to calm his friend. "I won't ask again. Just relax."

Shun kept eye contact for a few moments longer, his chest heaving and his panting breath coming out in puffs of white mist, before his eyes lost their furious look and something like shame or guilt replaced it. He let go of Hyoga's coat, turned and picked up the duffel bag that had fallen to the ground when he attacked Hyoga.

He swung it back on his shoulder and turned to leave. "Come on Hyoga. We better get going, before Natasha's men gain too much ground on us."

Hyoga followed him worriedly. Shun was acting more and more out of character.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTS

Shun kept his eyes straight ahead. He couldn't look at Hyoga. He didn't know what had come over him, attacking his best friend. But after Hyoga had said he had heard him talk in his sleep, he had been scared out of his skin that Hyoga might have heard the truth about what he had to hide from him. He couldn't deal with Hyoga knowing about it. He would loose his best friend. Hyoga would be disgusted about him and he just couldn't handle losing Hyoga's friendship. He bit the inside of his cheek as guilt twisted his gut. He would have seriously hurt him. Hyoga had no Cosmo, and had he attacked with his own, Hyoga could be dead right now.

He had to hold it together until they got home. Maybe it would be possible to talk to his brother about it. But he doubted even that.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

Igor urged his men to a faster pace. They had walked most of the night, even though it was dangerous to walk in darkness. But they all knew it was more dangerous to deal with Natasha if they failed to bring the Saint back and kill the traitor. He had seen the smoke of their fire and knew they were closing in on them. He supposed they would catch up with them the next day or so, which wasn't too soon, because the fugitives would reach the boarder in two days at the latest.

With grim satisfaction he recalled the message from Natasha from last night. She had told him that the Russian traitor was no Saint after all. A good fighter, but with no special powers. That gave them a chance to succeed in their mission.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

Hyoga and Shun had walked all day long without talking much and they had made good progress. The incident from the morning was not mentioned once the whole day.

They stopped late in the evening when they reached some big rocks, which promised some shelter from the icy night wind.

Shun posed the bag on the floor and walked wordlessly off to get some wood, leaving Hyoga the task to unpack the supplies. Their share of tasks and the meal was a perfect repetition of the night before, with the difference that Shun didn't say one unnecessary word the whole time.

Hyoga tried to start a conversation several times, evading the matter of Shun's secret or his strange behavior, but Shun didn't play along and only gave short gruff answers if he answered at all.

Hyoga finally gave up. It was obvious that Shun didn't want to talk to him at all.

And he didn't really wish for a repetition of earlier either.

So he hadn't said a word about his hands and feet, which had hurt like hell the whole day only to finally turn completely numb sometime in the early evening. He knew what that meant. It was a bad sign, and if he didn't manage to warm his feet soon, he could lose some toes or worse.

After they finished their meal, Shun only said; "You can take the first watch today, since I did yesterday", without even looking at him and went to the sleeping bag to untie it.

"Shun..." Hyoga began worriedly. He didn't recognize his friend anymore.

But one warning look from Shun made him shut up. So he just sighed and moved closer to the fire, trying to get a little warmer. His hands had started to sting painfully, as he had warmed them on the fire and circulation restored itself slowly, but his feet were still numb.

It was two hours later when he heard Shun murmur something. Warily, Hyoga observed his friend who was clearly still asleep, even though far from restful. The Andromeda Saint kept on muttering something inaudible and moved his limbs under the confines of the sleeping bag. In a matter of seconds, he became more and more agitated and tossed his head restlessly from one side to the other.

Hyoga waited a few minutes, but Shun's trashing didn't stop and even became more violent, his mind trapped in horrid memories of a nightmare.

Mindful of his friend's order to wake him in case of another nightmare, Hyoga stood and approached the sleeping bag, crouching down at its side. Carefully, he nudged the shoulder closest to him.

Shun didn't even acknowledge him, even less wake up. Hyoga shook him harder. "Hey, Shun. Wake up."

This time, he got more of a reaction than he wanted. Shun's eyes flew open and glared, confused and hateful at him - or rather through him, for there was no recognition in the green eyes - for a split-second. Hyoga felt a bang of energy slam into him and throw him a few meters backwards, making him crash sideways into the boulders behind their camp. He heard the snapping sound, like a breaking twig, before a breath-taking pain radiated from his wrist up his arm and body. He slumped down heavily to the ground in front of the boulder and stayed there, panting and trying to catch his breath and getting control over the pain in his side and arm.

Through blurry vision he saw Shun sitting up, looking at him with wide eyes, recognizing him at last.

"Oh Goddess. Hyoga!"

Hyoga closed his eyes and took some deep breaths, to gain control over the situation and his hurting body. Shutting out everything around him for those few moments he needed.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

The Andromeda Saint woke in time to see Hyoga impact the rock side. With near panic, he freed himself of the sleeping bag.

'Ikilledhimohgodsikilledhim' Shun couldn't stop the tumbling thoughts forming, fumbling, consuming, keeping all other thought out, while he finally disentangled himself and ran over to Hyoga, going to his knees beside him. Hyoga's eyes were shut tightly in pain and he was taking rasping breaths, but he was breathing. Shun allowed relief to wash over him. Finally Hyoga opened his eyes and looked up at him, even managing a slight smile. "Hyoga, are you alright? Can you get up?" The Russian nodded and Shun took hold of his shoulders and helped him into a sitting position.

"Gods, Hyoga. I'm so sorry. I didn't recognize you. I could have..."

Hyoga took some deep breaths, ignoring the searing pain in his hand and interrupted his friends frantic rambling. "It's okay, Shun. I'm fine. It was an accident."

Shun shook his head and felt a stinging in his eyes, as tears of frustration dwelled up on him. "I could have killed you. I didn't even recognize you. All I saw was…" he trailed off, leaving his thoughts unsaid and lowered his head.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

The deep desperation in his voice broke Hyoga's heart. There was so much pain there… He didn't think about his next actions and reacted only out of a sudden feeling to ease the pain of his hurting friend somehow. He reached forward with his unhurt hand, grabbed Shun's shoulder and pulled him close until the younger one's head rested against his shoulder. Shun stiffened at first, but then gave in to the embrace.

"I'm so sorry Shun. I wish I could help you. You are hurting like never before and there is nothing I can do to help you, if you don't tell me what is bothering you," Hyoga whispered softly.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

Shun didn't answer for several minutes. What he had feared had happened. Caught in the dream, he had used his Cosmo and had hit Hyoga with it. It was all her fault. He wanted to tell Hyoga so badly. He wanted to let it all out but he was scared shitless about the looks of accusation and disgust he was sure to get from his friend from the moment he told him. And still, feeling Hyoga rubbing comforting circles against his back he could feel his resolve crumble and the tears fell hot on his cheeks.

"She used to say she loved me. She wanted my love in return but I couldn't give it to her," he started to murmur, first hesitating, but then some barrier broke inside of him. He grabbed a fistful of Hyoga's coat in a tight grip and let go of his held back words and tears. "I hated every touch from her, despised every word and hated every smile she made. I felt so helpless and I didn't know if Athena or you would or could come to get me out, as long as she endangered what Athena stands to protect. I felt so alone and scared. And she used to touch me, wanting to kiss me. I felt nauseous letting her close to me. And then one night. The night before I saw you, she came on to me." He swallowed passed the tears, fighting the nauseous feeling at the memory. But he forced himself to go on. There was no stopping now, but his voice was no more than a painful whisper. "She wanted to make Love with me. She... she just came to me and was all over me. I pushed her back, refused to let her near me. She said that she would detonate one of the bombs if I would not do it. I didn't want too, I swear, but I couldn't refuse. I am a Saint. I have to protect humanity. It is my duty, you must understand Hyoga. I had no choice..." His last words were spoken in a desperation so deep, his voice trembled.

He looked up fearful at Hyoga, expecting to be pushed off, but his eyes widened as he saw tear tracks down his friends cheeks, who looked at him with painful eyes.

"I'm so sorry Shun. I was there, but I had no idea. I couldn't do anything." Instead of pushing him off, Hyoga pulled him even closer, hugging him close to his own body with his arm. Shun stayed this way for a long while, crying silently, guarded by his friend's presence and comfort.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

Hyoga felt his own tears down his cheeks. Tears of sympathy for his friend. A friend who had been hurt deeply. He felt anger in the back of his heart for Natasha. She would pay for it. This wasn't over. Not by a long shot. Shun had always kept a big part of his innocence, no matter what fights they had fought. And Natasha had hurt him on this innocence, the most precious thing about Shun. Why him? He thought. Why didn't she want another of them? They all would have been hurt by her actions, but they would have just done it to protect innocent people and not thought much more of it. They wouldn't have been hurt as deeply as Shun. They had all lost their innocence before. Now she had destroyed Shun's as well. 'Oh dear God,' He thought, 'Don't let him lose his innocence and kind soul because of her.'

So he just held Shun close, letting him cry it out.

It was about a half hour later when Shun's sobs finally subsided and he straightened, swallowed and met Hyoga's eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cry," he said.

Hyoga smiled, trying to lay all the compassion and friendship he felt for the younger boy in that gesture. "Don't worry. You had every right to do so. I'm your friend. Don't you ever justify your actions before me."

"Thank you, for not rejecting me," Shun whispered.

Hyoga leaned forward, whipping some more tears from Shun's face with his palm, then resting his hand on his friend's shoulder, squeezing lightly. "Never. You are my best friend, because you are what you are. I will never reject you. I promise."

Shun sniffed once more, whipping away the last of the tears on his face with his sleeve and managed a small smile. "I'm lucky to have a friend who is willing to sit in the cold snow, freezing his butt off, so I can cry on his coat."

Hyoga laughed. "If that is all it takes for true friendship, I'm perfectly willing to do that, Tovarish. But I think right now I have another problem."

Shun narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I think I broke my wrist on the impact with the boulder."

Shun looked at him alarmed and gasped. "Are you sure?"

Hyoga still smiled, but now Shun saw the fine lines of pain around his friend's eyes. "I don't think you can forget the feeling of broken bones, now could you?"

"Let's go to the fire and I'll take a look." Shun said and stood up. He reached down and took Hyoga's healthy hand, helping him up. Hyoga closed his eyes, once standing and took a deep breath as the pain in his hand and side returned with the movement.

Shun stayed close beside him on the way back to the fire, ready to steady him, should he need his assistance. Once back, he helped him sit down on the sleeping bag.

"Are you sure it is only the hand?" he asked worriedly.

Hyoga nodded. "I think so. I have no trouble breathing, but I'll have a helluva bruise on my side tomorrow."

"I'm really sorry Hyoga," Shun said looking guilty.

Hyoga held his gaze intensely "Hey. Don't beat yourself up over it. It was an accident, okay." When Shun didn't react, he squeezed the other boy's hand "Okay?"

Shun nodded and sat beside him on the bag. "Let me see your hand."

Hyoga complied and Shun took the limb carefully into his hand. "I will have to take off the glove. It's going to hurt like hell though."

"I've had worse in my life. I'll live," Hyoga smiled.

"Okay then." Shun carefully pulled on the glove to remove it. Hyoga closed his eyes, when pain grew into agony, searing through his whole body. He tried to relax and breathe profoundly through the pain, to better bear it.

It was only Shun's sharp intake of breath, which let him open his eyes and meet his friend's alarmed face.

"Oh Gods. Hyoga, why didn't you tell me?"

Hyoga didn't understand at first. "I told you that the wrist is broken."

"That is not what I mean. Why didn't you tell me about this?" Shun pointed at the exposed hand with his own.

Hyoga looked down. His wrist sported a purple-blue color and was swollen at least twice its size, but it wasn't that, what Shun indicated at. His whole hand had lost almost all color, only his fingers were slightly bluish and the finger tips started to take on a darker bluish tone already.

"Don't tell me, you who have been raised in Siberia doesn't know the signs of a frostbite!?" Shun accused angrily.

"We don't have time to worry about that," Hyoga tried to explain. "I knew it was a risk to expose myself to this weather without Cosmo.

"We can only hope that our followers will lose some toes too," He added in a lighter voice.

But Shun didn't buy it. "This isn't funny Hyoga. You should have told me."

"And what would you have done about it?" Hyoga said more serious. "It will get better, once I get closer to the fire and I'm a little warmer. We will reach the boarder tomorrow, or the day after. I can handle it until then."

Shun held his gaze without replying. After a while he carefully laid Hyoga's hand back on the ground and stood up. "I'll see if I can find something to set it." He disappeared into the woods and returned a short while later with some wooden sticks. When he walked around the sleeping bag to get back in front of Hyoga, he bent down and lifted the cord they tied up the bag with before. He sat back down beside Hyoga and gently took the damaged hand back into his lap.

"It doesn't look misplaced too much. I will only immobilize it for the moment. It will be better if a doctor sets it after some X-rays." He ripped a piece of cloth off his coat and laid it loosely around the injured limb, before he placed the sticks around the broken joint and bound the cord around it several times, tight enough to immobilize it, but loose enough not to cut off the circulation.

"And this time you will say something if you feel the swelling increase, you hear me?" he said severely to Hyoga, who hadn't made a sound of discomfort the whole time, even though he knew that Shun knew how much it hurt to splint a broken bone. And Hyoga also saw how Shun glanced worriedly at the piece of fabric he fisted tightly with his good hand, trying to distract himself from the pain and make it bearable.

Hyoga answered with a short nod to Shun's command and started to get to his feet. But Shun stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "No. It is your turn to sleep. I'll take the next guard." He stood and moved from the sleeping bag. Hyoga smiled gratefully, but his smile didn't reach his eyes. He was in too much pain right now and if he was honest, he longed for the relative warmth of the sleeping bag. He pulled off his boots and laid down in the bag. He observed Shun walk to the fire and put some more logs on it. Hyoga closed his eyes and shivered. He hurt really bad from the broken hand, and felt terribly cold. Sitting on the cold snow-covered ground for so long had definitely been a bad idea. But Shun had needed it, so he didn't regret anything. He tried to relax, but the fire didn't do much to chase the chill in his bones.

He didn't realize the movement directly behind him at first, all his mind on the pain and cold, but he opened the eyes with a start when he felt an arm going around him from his back, and another body laying down beside him. He jerked up his head and turned it to see Shun laying close behind him on top of the bag, his body close to Hyoga's, smiling at him. "Sleep Hyoga. You'll need your strength tomorrow. I'll stay awake to keep guard." Hyoga felt the air around them getting warmer, as Shun burned his Cosmo, chasing the cold from the air around them. Hyoga smiled back gratefully and laid his head back down. Some minutes later he was asleep.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTS

Shun stayed awake for the next few hours, but didn't move from Hyoga's side, keeping him warm until they would continue their way.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTS

It was about seven in the morning, when Igor and his men reached the place with the rocks. He crouched in front of the abandoned fire place, took off his gloves and touched the still warm ashes slightly with the tip of his fingers. A victorious smile played around his lips. The two boys had no more than a half hour lead on them. And they would catch up with them shortly now.

T.B.C


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N_

_So, this is the last chapter of this fanfic but the Story isn't told yet. There are two sequels coming, continuing the Story about the boys. The next installment is called 'Price of trust' and the first chapter will bei uploaded very soon. If you don't have me on alert and don't want to put me but still want to read that, just let me know your E-Mail addy and I'll inform you about tue first upload._

_  
But now, on wich the story:_

**Chapter 11**

Shun's eyes wandered over to his friend, again. He was worried about Hyoga, who was walking beside him silently, not once complaining, keeping the pace. But Shun knew that his friend must be hurting. A lot.

The guilt over the fact that he had caused some of this pain didn't help his peace of mind either. Last night, he had kept the other boy warm while he slept, burning his Cosmo around them. It had been exhausting doing this for such a long time, but seeing Hyoga's hands take on a more normal color and knowing to be able to do at least something made it worth the effort.

He still couldn't understand why Athena, his brother and the other Saints didn't meet up with them to get them out faster. The bombs were dealt with, after all. Had Saori been afraid that they might fail at that? Was that the reason? No, if they hadn't succeeded in disarming the bombs, fleeing despite that fact, there would be no stopping her in any case, which meant they wouldn't have attempted escape then. Athena must know that. She could have sent some of her men without Cosmo to meet them halfway. If they'd show up, fine, if not then they'd know that something had gone wrong. It all made no sense at all. Something just felt 'off'. They must have had a good reason, but he wasn't sure he'd like that reason.

Shun had wanted to ask Hyoga, but he didn't want to exhaust his friend more by giving explanations. He would get to know the reason soon enough, he thought with a silent sigh. They hoped to reach the boarder of Natasha's lands late today. They'd have enough time to talk, once in security.

So they walked silently for several hours until mid-day, when, out of the blue, a branch snapped behind them. Too distinguishable and too out of place in the eerie silence of the winter landscape. They both turned around with a start, just in time to see six of Natasha's guards step out of the trees behind them. Each held a vicious looking gun, all muzzles securely trained at the two boys.

Shun and Hyoga instinctively shuffled closer to one another in a defensive stance, glaring defiantly at their pursuers. One of them said something in Russian and Shun threw a sideways glance at Hyoga. "What did he say?"

"Can't you guess? They always say the same," the Russian answered ironically.

"They want us to give up without any fight?" Shun asked with raised eyebrows.

The two boys exchanged a mischievous smirk. Six ordinary men taking on two professional fighters of which one was a Saint.

"Come and get us," Hyoga challenged coldly.

The guns were held more tightly, meant to threaten in return and the men moved their fingers tight against the triggers.

"Hyoga. Stay back please. I can take them out alone and we don't want to risk injuring your hand further."

Hyoga nodded and Shun walked forward slowly and deliberately. Even though he was way above their league in matters of combat, he, like all warriors worth their name had foremost learned not to underestimate an adversary.

"Stop," one of the guards warned. "I'll shoot." Shun wasn't impressed at all, even though he understood the broken English the guard had switched to, and only kept on walking slowly and with a slightly lowered head towards the now more and more uncomfortable looking man, never letting him out of his sight.

The guard licked his lips nervously glancing over at his companions, obviously unsure what to do now. He finally pulled the trigger when Shun didn't even slow down and kept on walking. As if that shot had broken through any hesitation, which might have ruled before, the first bang was immediately followed by five others when the other guards, nervous as well, fired their rounds at Shun. They had all heard about the powers a Saint was supposed to possess and they were more than uncertain. The bullets of their guns left the weapons but didn't reach their destination and ricocheted off before touching Shun, as if they were thrown off by a invincible barrier. Shun didn't stop his forward movement until he stood directly in front of the barrel of the gun of the first guard, looking at the man behind it calmly.

Hyoga saw Shun grip the barrel and bend it with one hand and no visible effort at all upwards at a 90° angle. The guard looked at him in surprise and fear. The big man's face sported a thin sheet of sweat and he blinked a few times, before he tensed, threw away his weapon with a yell and attacked Shun, only to be knocked out with one single blow. The other guards approached too, ready to fight. Shun stayed relatively passive but blocked each attack without any effort, sending the men to ground one after the other.

Hyoga observed the whole thing more or less interested. The guards didn't stand a chance against Shun. He had expected them to send more men, but he wasn't about to complain. They had had enough trouble as it was.

He didn't see the movement behind him but felt the blow against his temple as the world around him exploded in a flash of agony and he fell down like a stone.

He was still down on the ground, the pain in his head and hand almost consuming his conscious thoughts, when he heard Igor's voice roaring above him.

"Stop that or I'll kill your friend here and now."

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

Shun heard the booming voice behind him and turned around to see Hyoga on the ground and Igor, Natasha's main guard standing over him, his gun pointing at The Cygnus Saint's head.

Shun watched worriedly as his friend tried dazedly to prop his upper body up on his elbows, a small trickle of blood running down his temple. But before he succeeded to lift himself halfway up, Igor kicked him in his already sore ribs and he collapsed again with a moan.

"Stop it!" Shun yelled, taking one step towards the downed Russian. But Igor lifted one hand in warning.

"I know that you are fast and can take me out easily. But are you sure you can reach me fast enough to stop me from pulling the trigger? Are you willing to take that risk? Give up now, and you both will live."

Shun tore his eyes from the big man and glanced down at Hyoga. His friend was pretty much out of it, barely clinging onto consciousness. He could not expect any help from him.

Shun had already moved with the speed of light, using his seventh sense and with that he could reach Igor, before he would be able to pull the trigger, but he had exhausted himself, burning his Cosmo all night long. He wasn't sure if it would work. And he was not ready to bet Hyoga's life on it. He'd have more chances to break out later when they let their guard down.

He gave a short nod to Igor, who smirked at him and called an order to one of his men in Russian. Shun felt somebody approach from behind. His hands were yanked, none too gently, behind his back and he felt the cool metal of handcuffs close around his wrists with a snap. He smiled. Did they really think they could bind him with those? They were in for a surprise then. He saw Igor relax his finger, moving it slightly off the trigger and lowering the gun to his side. Shun had been waiting for this moment. He concentrated on his Cosmo, ready to burn it and break free of the cuffs, but instead of the flow of energy, all he felt was a searing pain exploding in his head and coursing through his entire body like a current of electricity. He moaned and his knees buckled, giving in under him. He managed to stay on his knees but could hardly breathe through the pain. He panted and felt the agony slowly abate again.

He heard Igor laugh. "Natasha's witch put a spell on the cuffs. As long as you wear them, you can't use your powers. I have orders to bring you back to her, and this I will do. I'll also carry out my order concerning the traitor with pleasure."

Shun didn't understand at first until he looked up again and saw Igor kneel down on one leg beside Hyoga's prone form, putting the barrel of his gun against the stunned boy's neck.

"We don't want to risk letting him survive, now would we?" he asked with a smirk while he tightened his index finger against the trigger.

Shun realized at this moment that Igor was about to execute Hyoga in front of his eyes.

"NO!" He screamed at the same time as the sound of the shot ripped through the cold air.

"HYOGA!!!"

With a horror-constricted heart, Shun kept his eyes on his friend, but there was no blood on Hyoga's head where the bullet should have hit him. Shun's gaze wandered up to Igor, who stared straight ahead with an astonished look on his face, before he begun to fall over as if in slow motion. The Russian guard hit the ground heavily, only inches besides Hyoga and then lay still, giving sight to the red mass at the back of his head, where should have been skull, skin and hair.

Some new men appeared out of the woods behind the fallen man, all of them armed. The biggest of them, a giant of a man, tall and broad-shouldered, his self assured stance and no nonsense eyes speaking of a man used to being obeyed was clad in a heavy, expensive looking fur-coat and hat. He addressed Natasha's guards in a near whisper, full of command and threat, giving them an order in Russian, his small, silver handgun still dressed at them.

Shun began to understand - the tall man must have shot Igor. One of the bigger weapons that his fellow men carried would have blown off the man's head instantly. But who were they?

In mute shock, their attackers' eyes were glued on Igor's corpse for an endless second longer, before one after the other looked up at the new man in charge. With hesitant and frightened movement, they lay their guns down to the ground before their feet, before they raised their hands in surrender.

The leader barked another order and some of his men started to collect the weapons and keep the guards under surveillance. Shun felt one of the men approach from behind and he swirled around, defiantly. He was grateful that their appearance saved Hyoga but he was still not ready to trust those strangers in any way.

"Relax, Saint. We're on your side," he heard the leader say in accented English and he turned back, facing him.

A low groan led his attention towards Hyoga, who was starting to prop himself up on his arms again. Shun wasn't sure he was fully aware of the going on's around him yet, for he seemed still quite confused. The big man tilted his head towards the former Saint, saying something to one of his men, who had stepped up to his side as soon as the other's weapon had been laid down. The man nodded, walked over and knelt beside the semi conscious boy while he ignored Shun completely.

"Hey, leave him alone," Shun protested, ready to defend his friend from any eventual danger.

"I told you that we are on your side. Sergey is a medic. He only wants to help him," the leader said.

Shun felt somebody behind him reach for his bound hands, undoing the cuffs. As soon as the second cuff clicked open and he was free, he hurried over to his friend. Hyoga was now sitting up with help of the Russian man, who examined the small wound on his temple. He said something to the younger, who nodded, wincing from the movement.

Shun crouched down beside his friend who sat on the ground, his elbows propped on his pulled up knees, and head buried in his hand.

He laid one hand lightly on Hyoga's shoulder and waited until his friend looked up at him. "You alright?" he asked worriedly.

Hyoga gave him a pained smile. "Apart from the worst headache you can imagine… Yes, I'm fine."

"Do you know who those men are?"

Hyoga nodded again. He gestured towards the big man. "Shun, this is Dimitri Kavolsky. A friend of mine." He looked up at the Russian man, switching from Japanese to Russia.

--------------------

"Thank you for helping us. You saved my life."

The big Russian gave a toothy grin. "Happy to return the favor. We are even now. We will have to walk a little while to a big clearing, where we will be picked up by a helicopter. I will bring you to an airport and then you'll be back in Japan in no time."

Hyoga nodded and stood up but swayed a little. Shun held him by his upper arm until he regained his equilibrium. "Are you sure you're fine? You don't look so good."

Hyoga smiled. "I'm good. Nothing an Aspirin won't cure. Kavolsky said he has a helicopter, which will pick us up and take us to the next Airport. We are as good as out of here."

"Who is this Kavolsky anyway? An associate of Saori?"

"I'll explain all, once we are on the plane for Tokyo. It is too long a story for now."

With those words he walked off slowly, following the lead of Kavolsky and his men. Shun followed behind, keeping close to his friend. Natasha's guards were left, tied to a tree. It would take them a while to free themselves. By that time, the Saints would be long gone.

They walked for about two hours, until they reached the clearing, where a green and black military style helicopter stood waiting, guarded by one man leaning with his back against the cockpit door, his gun held loosely against his shoulder.

They approached and Kavolsky gave his orders. The man who had stayed by the aircraft and one of the men with them mounted the cockpit and the rest of them got into the back.

Hyoga leaned his head back in the soft seat, sighing softly. He had a really bad headache, which hadn't gotten better while they walked. On the contrary. And as the pilot now started the helicopter and the whole cabin began to vibrate softly, his headache mounted from real uncomfortable to outright painful. He closed his eyes and grimaced. A hand on his arm made him look up and see Sergey hold two pills in his hand, a friendly and compassionate smile on his face. "That should take the edge off it."

Hyoga nodded gratefully, took the pills and dry-swallowed them. He felt the cool dampness of a wet towel against his face, as Sergey cleaned the small laceration on his temple and applied a band-aid afterwards.

After a while, the pain in his skull became a mere dull ache and by the time they reached the airport, he had nearly fallen asleep in the comfort of the warm cabin.

As soon as they had landed at the airport and the rotor had stilled, Shun exited the aircraft, followed by Hyoga.

Kavolsky too got out and walked them to the entrance of the main buildings, where he addressed Hyoga. "From now on you should get home safe." He pulled out four plane tickets and handed them to Hyoga. "The plane for Moscow leaves in four hours. Then you'll have only an one hour wait for the connecting flight to Tokyo."

"Thank you for your help," Hyoga said.

The man grinned and clapped him friendly on the back. "I owed you, Tovarish. I wish you both a good trip home. "

He nodded to Shun and turned around to leave the two boys.

"And now?" Shun asked.

Hyoga smiled at his friend. "We have four hours to wait. What do you think if we go and eat something. I don't know about you, but I'm starving. A soup and some cereal bars per day, is not what I call a healthy meal."

Shun smiled and nodded.

A little later, they sat in the single small restaurant of the Airport, looking through the menu.

Hyoga looked up at his friend who had a frown on his face, staring a bit lost at the card in his hand.

"What is wrong, Shun? You can't decide? It is not like they had a lot to choose from."

Shun looked up at him. "I'm sure I would find something really fast, but…"

"But?" Hyoga asked.

"Can't they put the text in English here at an airport?"

Hyoga chuckled. "This is only a local airport."

"Still. I mean, who ever invented a language with a writing that looks more like hieroglyphs than letters."

Hyoga snapped the menu from Shun's fingers with a smile. "And that from a guy, who's maternal language is Japanese," he murmured.

He read trough the menu, translating for his friend who gave him an answering, innocent smile. Hyoga smiled as well. It looked like Shun was getting better. His talking about his bad experience seemed to have helped. Hyoga could not start to tell how relieved he was. He wouldn't have been able to deal if he had lost Shun forever. His friend would certainly still need time to process what he had been through, but it looked as if Shun was coming back slowly.

A little later, after Hyoga had ordered the food for them and they had received the plates, Shun looked up at his friend. "Are you gonna tell me now why the others didn't come here to help us escape, and how Athena has managed with your Cosmo?"

Hyoga sighed, closed his eyes for a second and then looked up at the younger boy. "It is a rather long story and I would like to tell you in peace. You're probably not going to like what I will tell you. Can you wait until we are in the plane for Japan? We'll have enough time then. I don't want to tell you here in a busy, loud airport, and the connecting flight to Moscow will be too short." Hyoga knew that was not the real reason why he didn't want to tell Shun yet. Not the most important reason, anyway. He wasn't keen to admit it, but he was afraid of Shun's reaction. Once in the plane, there was no way for Shun to evade him and he had to hear him out, talk it through if necessary. He knew Shun and didn't think he'd judge him. The younger boy was his best friend and vice versa and they would never ever abandon one another for anything. What Hyoga feared, was that Shun would blame himself, which Hyoga didn't want to happen. He didn't want Shun to think that it was his fault. The gentle Andromeda Saint didn't need that on top of the other trauma he had endured, and Hyoga would lay into his friend until he believed him too

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

Shun saw the intent look in the blue eyes and nodded. For some reason, this seemed very important to Hyoga. "Of Course."

Shun watched Hyoga turn his attention back to his food, struggling one-handed with some kind of pastry. He finally managed to tear the food apart with his fork and Shun lowered his gaze as well, biting his lower lip in thoughts. He had feared that something was not as it was supposed to be. Hyoga's look right before had confirmed that. He knew his friend too well and could read him better than anyone else could. Hyoga worried about something. Something to do with what he wanted to tell him. Had Natasha activated one of the bombs? Or did something happen to one of the others? He suddenly felt worried about his brother. No. Hyoga would have told him had something happened to Ikki. But he could not think of anything else that would have kept his brother from coming to his rescue. Ikki was sometimes a little over-protective. He never complained, since Ikki had saved his life before, and to be honest, it felt good to know someone cared at this point, but sometimes he wished his older brother would have a little more faith in his ability to fight and let him finish his battles on his own, even if it didn't look good for him. All the others had been there. Where it had looked as if they would lose a fight, and in the end they had still won and came out of it, stronger than before.

But now he worried as much about his brother as the other way around. He wanted to know but he trusted Hyoga's judgment. He would know soon enough.

"Ikki is fine. It is nothing like that, Shun," he heard Hyoga say.

His head jerked upwards to meet Hyoga's smiling face, surprised that he had guessed his thoughts. Guess he wasn't the only one able to read his friend.

He answered with a smile of his own.

"I will tell you Shun. But relax. Nobody died or something like that," the Russian said.

Shun nodded.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

A few hours later, they sat in the airplane towards Moscow. It was a relatively short flight, and once they arrived at Russians capital city, they had to hurry to catch the connecting flight to Tokyo.

They boarded and let themselves fall into the comfortable seats, Shun taking the window seat, both pretty much out of breath. At least they didn't have to check the luggage, since they had only the duffel, which had stayed back in Russia. They didn't need it anymore now, and left it with Kavolsky and his men to throw it away.

Shun glanced out of the window, while the plane got ready to take off, and only looked over at his companion after a while. Hyoga looked exhausted, he thought. No wonder, after all they had been through, and Shun was sure that the broken arm hurt his friend.

After the plane had taken off and was slowly gaining altitude, Hyoga was already half asleep.

Shun slightly touched his friend's arm and Hyoga's head jerked up. "You would be more comfortable lowering the seat, Hyoga," he said in a low voice.

Hyoga rubbed his eyes with his good hand. "I'm sorry Shun. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you. I promised to explain all…"

"Hyoga. You are exhausted," he interrupted, when Hyoga opened his mouth to protest. "I know that we are well trained to deal with what the last few days gave us, even without Cosmo, but you're not used to it. You have been running on adrenalin for quite some time and now the stress is over, we have eaten something solid, and don't forget the pain pills… I can tell that you're dead on your feet. Sleep. You can tell me when you wake up. We will be in the air for several hours, there will be enough time. You need the rest more. "

Hyoga nodded with a sigh. Apparently, Shun had read his friend right for he didn't argue further, leaned the seat backwards, closed his eyes and was soon after asleep.

Shun smiled and looked out the window at the clouds moving by, feeling the fatigue creep up on him as well. A few minutes later, he was also fast asleep.

****************

End

_Continued in 'Price of trust'_


End file.
